Less of a bastard (Discontinued)
by D-Crossing
Summary: What would it mean to shinji ikari,the world and humanity in general if Gendo ikari was less of a bastard.What if in preparation for the angel war gendo preppared his son even if secretly and what if his scenario was Greatly altered.
1. Chapter 1-Angel attack

**I do not own neon genesis evangelion all rights go to their respective owners.**

 **…**

* * *

"Due to a Special state of emergency,all lines are currently unavailable."The slightly distorted voice informed Shinji as he stood in front of the green phone booth. The woman that was supposed to be picking him up was late and if this kept up he'd have to run for shelter or risk getting squashed by the incoming angel. _just fantastic,father prepares everything but actual safe transportation to the Geo-front. Typical._

He looked at the picture of the woman who supposedly would come pick him up,he had to admit that she was indeed rather attractive. Not that it mattered. At that point he had more pressing concerns,like the possible extinction of the human race through third impact. If he didn't get in the goddamn robot in time

Shinji then felt a sudden rush of wind and saw a few VTOLS retreating from what he assumes at least is the angel. It then leaps and lands but a few meters in front of him crushing an already downed craft as it does so.  
He hears the screeching of tires and a car comes to a stop but a few meters in front of him.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting!Shinji Ikari right?"Shinji just nods and hops onto the car as it speeds away.  
…

* * *

"The Target is still operational,it continues headed directly towards Tokyo-3"

"The air-force doesn't have the power to stop it!"

"Damn it!hit it with everything we've got,mobilize all units from Atsugi and scramble the squadrons from Iruma!"Ordered one of the JSSDF's generals.

"Forget about the budget!Destroy it at all costs!"added another as a pencil snapped in his hand.

A guided missile hits the enigmatic figure directly,it can't be seen for a few seconds as the smoke from the strike clears,as it does however its reveled not to have suffered any damage from the explosion.

"The tank battalion lost 90% of its units,Guided missiles and artillery are having no effect either."One said as he crossed his arms and sunk into his seat.

"Damn it!we've already lost half our forces and we're not even touching it!"Said another as he slammed his hand on the table.

"Is this the power of an AT field?"Fuyutsuki asked as he looked at Gendo,whose hands where now tented bellow his nose.

"Indeed,conventional weapons will not damage the angels"Gendo replied before a beeping could be heard from one of the general's phones. The man looked surprised for a moment before nodding and replying.

"Yes sir,we will execute the plan at once. All units clear the area,we're authorizing an n2 strike!"He shouted a couple more orders and the VTOLS in the screen could be seen retreating from the angel. The screen is then left with nothing more than static as the might of the n2 mine falls upon the angel.

"YES,WE'VE DONE IT!"Shouted the youngest of the JSSDF's generals as he rose from his seat.

"Sorry,but it seems your toy wont be getting a shot at it today."Another said as a smug grin crossed his face. "Perhaps we should request the UN to lower your funding."

"It will be rather amusing to see their reaction to it's survival."Gendo said,low enough that the generals didn't hear it but just loud enough for Fuyutsuki to do so. The older man simply smiled and nodded has he trained his eyes on the screen again.

"Hey,kid. Are you alright?"Misato asked,a lightly concerned tone in her voice. He sighed as he spit out dirt that had entered his mouth.

"Aside from a small heart-attack and a mouth-full of dirt, I'm fine."He replied jokingly.

"okay,then. Help me push."Shinji just nodded in response as he helped her put the car back on its wheels."There" She shook the dirt off her hands."Thanks for the help,i appreciate it."The older woman said with a smile on her lips.

"No problem,miss Katsuragi, I'm here to help after all."Shinji replied as he cleaned the dirt off his shirt. _I_ _should squish the JSSDF for ruining my favorite shirt. Nah two much work and n2 mines can actually damage Evangelions. Father would kill me if I got his precious unit-01 damaged._

"Just Misato is fine. its great to finally meet you,Shinji-kun."She said while taking off her sunglasses

"Okay then misato,call me shinji,deal?"He extended his hand which she shook with a small laugh.

"Deal."

 **...**

* * *

"What's the status on the target"One of the JSSDF's men asked.

"We can't confirm it yet,EMP interference from the n2 mine."A bridge operator replied.

"You saw the size of the explosion,its dead."The youngest of the 3 stated.

"Sensors restored."

"We've got an energy reading at the center of the explosion!Pattern blue detected,its the Angel."

"Impossible!That was our last resort..."The oldest general said,the 2 others too surprised to even speak.

"It seems you were right again Gendo,their reactions were indeed rather amusing."Fuyutsuki said as his lips tugged upwards.

"By now you should know I'm always right,old friend."Gendo replied only half seriously.

 **...**

* * *

 _This sucks!I just had this car restored and now its a wreck,I've still got 33 loan repayments to go,and oh god,and the repair costs!  
_ Misato sighed as she looked down at her equally ruined clothes. This was possibly the third,no scratch that second worst day of her life.

"Hey,Misato,not that I mean to intrude or anything,but are we sure we can,you know,steal those batteries?"Shinji asked,of course he knew they _could_ NERV did hold authority over the city in a state of emergency,but he still found it incredibly rude to steal something like that.

"I'm sure it'll be fine,it is an emergency after all"she replied while scratching the back of her head in a rather comical fashion.

...

* * *

"It seems our predictions where correct,its regenerating itself."Fuyutsuki stated as he looked at the screen where the angel was indeed doing exactly that.

"It would be a rather in-effective invasion weapon if it could not"Gendo stated. Fuyutsuki simply nods and smiles,nods and smiles as always.

"It will renew its assault shortly. Will our assets be ready for launch by then?" Fuyutsuki asked to which Gendo merely nodded,smirk hidden beneath his hands.  
...

* * *

"So,do you know what your father does?"Misato asked as they waited for them to arrive.

"Of course,something to do with this organization called NERV and some giant robots"Shinji answered,he'd been trained to use EVA in secret,a small facility created for that purpose alone was built near to his former living space,he had however not been in an actual evangelion ever before,and the memories he did have of his designated unit where less than stellar. with it having killed his mother and all. Even so he was loyal to his father and his scenario.

"Well your about to find out a whole of a lot more about it."Misato told him,Shinji for his part merely nodded.

"Oh,I think I should give you this"Shinji hands his summoning letter along with his NERV I.D card to Misato.

"Thanks,i was just about to ask for them anyways."She said matter-of-factually.

Then the car-train entered the Geo-front proper. The photographs he had access to didn't even come close to making it justice,the buildings that extended from the ceiling the gigantic pyramid of glass standing beside in an artificial lake and the lifts that interconnected the super-structure that was the HQ and the surface,it all fascinated him.

"Amazing,its a real Geo-front!"Shinji said excitedly as he took in the beauty of the place. _I was expecting it,yet it still looks so amazing.  
_

"Yup,This our secret Base,NERV headquarters,the key to rebuilding our world..."She said as she too took in the beauty.

"A fortress for all mankind."He'd heard those words before,one of his teacher's lessons about his future work place.

...

* * *

"From this point on,command of the operation will be entrusted to you, NERV commander Ikari."The general in the middle stated,though he seemed none too pleased about having to say those words.

"show us your at least mildly capable."he added."Can your weapons even destroy this thing?we've used the most power-full weapon mankind has ever created and it did nothing but slow it down. Why should your toy be any more effective?"He asked,looking down on Ikari,both physically and metaphorically.

"Trust us,defeating angels is after all,NERV's Only purpose for existing." _As far as you are aware at least_. Gendo added mentally. He then took the elevator up,where Fuyutsuki waited for him. "And to call the n2 mine mankind's most powerful weapon is incorrect." He added from above.

"Has our spare pilot arrived yet?"Fuyutsuki asked.

"My son has arrived,yes."Gendo put emphasis on the word 'my' and 'son',he was aware of Fuyutsuki's reservations about the boy's special treatment when compared to the other pilots,just as Fuyutsuki was aware of Shinji's role in the scenario,a role the boy willingly followed and one that was of utmost importance.

...

* * *

"Why are you wasting my time,captain Katsuragi?you known we're both short on time and manpower."A rather annoyed Ritsuko said before looking at Shinji."Is this the boy?"She asked. Shinji wondered how an organization that was funded with over 100 billion dollars per year could ever be short on time and much less manpower. _Are we really that wasteful?_

"Wha?Oh,yeah,according to the Marduk report he's the Third Child."Misato answered quickly.

"That would be me Shinji Ikari,Pleasure to meet you, I presume?"He says with a small smile,he'd stopped reading the NERV welcome pamphlet quite the while ago,he knew most if not all of what it said anyway. "I've researched your work,especially in the field of bio-mechanical engineering,its impressive."

"He's quite a bit more friendly than his father,isn't he?"Misato simply laughs in response,while Shinji blushes slightly.

* * *

"Handle the rest of this, I'm going to go welcome my son." Gendo ordered,Fuyutsuki nods an turns back towards the feed.  
"Status?" The old man asks.  
"Target has started moving again." One crew-member responds calmly.  
"Very well. Assume battle stations,level one." He orders.

…

* * *

"Repeat,battle stations,level one,prepare for ground-unit interception" Shinji heard the voice say, now that confused him,was that just a woman on the bridge announcing,an automated pre-recorded message?the magi's own automated voice?He knew most of NERV's secrets,more so than Misato. Ritsuko now...she knew of his father's scenario,the question was how much?more so than him?perhaps,not that it mattered at the moment,he had a battle to fight and worrying about the future was irrelevant if he couldn't guarantee it. While he was busy thinking of that he'd over-heard Misato and Ritsuko talking,they were speaking about unit-01,more specifically its probability of activation. _0,000000001% I can work with those odds. And they are probably calculated with the notion that I've never piloted before,well technically speaking I haven't,but simulation training is something,Right?please don't tell me I'm completely un-prepared for this. well only one way to find out._

The lights on the room were off and he could hear the sound of his steeping making a metallic noise,where the hell were they?His question was answered moments later when the lights turned on and he found himself standing face-to-face with Eva-01.

"This is man's ultimate humanoid fighting machine..."Ritsuko began.

"Evangelion unit-01,the test unit if remember correctly,this is the one I'll be piloting?"Shinji asked while cutting her off

"Correct."That was not Ritsuko but his own father."It's been a while,Shinji."

"Yes,4 years?Good to see you again father."He said as he looked above towards his father.

"Likewise"He answers aloud and then continues "we're moving out."

"Moving out?!"Misato asks, _he wouldn't!throw his own son into the Eva without training,it would be suicide!_ "Unit-00's still in cryo-stasis,isn't it?"She looks at unit one."Wait a second,your gonna use unit 1,aren't you?"

"There's no other way."Ritsuko answers.

"We don't even have a pilot!"Misato states.

"One's been delivered"She looks directly at Shinji.

"Your serious,aren't you?You'll send him out to die!"Misato couldn't just accept that,to send an untrained child against the angel.

"Third,you will pilot"Ritsuko said as she looked at Shinji,ignoring Misato's outburst. Shinji made a barely noticeable nod.

"How will he even do it,Rei took over 7 months to synch with her own Eva. Its impossible,he's never even seen an Eva before."

"And? he doesn't need to have seen an Eva to sit down on the plug."Was Ritsuko's answer.

"But...he's just a child.."

"Killing the angel's is not only NERV'S but mankind's only priority,if putting a child in the entry plug gives us even the slightest of chances at doing that,then we must. You understand that don't you,captain?"She finally asks,but it wasn't really a question,both of them knew the answer was yes.

Suddenly explosions started sounding off above and debris fell into the Geo-front from the city above causing the entire facility to shake violently and for lights to fall down from above. Shinji's only thoughts as the lights fell on him were that he was going to die,die against some fucking lights. not even Sachiel outside but mother,fucking,ceiling lights.

He closes his eyes and wonders if it will be painless,and then unit-01 stirs stooping the lights from falling on him. Protecting him.

"mother.."He whispers.

"No,that's not possible!It doesn't have an entry plug installed,it shouldn't move!"Ritsuko said with wide eyes.

"It Reacted without an interface?or was it protecting something?protecting him?But why?"Misato said as she looked at the Eva's hand over Shinji's head.

Shinji gets up and cleans his shirt off dust for the third time today."Let's do it,I'll pilot"He stated with far more confidence than either Ritsuko or Misato expected of the boy.

…

* * *

"cooling process finished,no irregularities detected."

"Right arm binding repaired and functional"

"Cage is now in position"

"Termination plug,removed,ready to accept entry plug"

"Inserting entry plug"  
Shinji feelt the plug lower and then rotate into place as it locked itself into the Eva's spine and then he could hear the chatter of the operators again.

"Plug in position,Initiating unit"

"LCL immersion starting,LCL Shows no impurities,Flooding the plug in 3,2,1"The liquid raises up into mouth,Shinji chooses the more painful yet less nauseating method of taking it all in through his nose rather than mouth.

"Don't worry,the liquid is oxygenated." _No shit Ritsuko,i though you wanted to drown mankind's last hope. He_ nearly said it out loud but decided it would probably be a bad idea to badmouth Ritsuko, _for now._

"It tastes like blood."That was always what he'd hated most about LCL,it both tasted and smelled like blood,he had of course gotten used to it eventually but it still bothered him if he spent more than a week or two without being submerged in it.

"Connecting umbilical cable now. Umbilical cable connected without incident."They continued on while ignoring his comment.

"All circuits are nominal and transmitting power as expect"

"Secondary contacts,connecting."

"A-10 nerve connection,nominal"

"Setting logic language to Japanese."

"Checking for performance issues,none found,performance nominal."

"Bi-directional circuits,open."

"Synchronization ratio at 64% and holding."A bridge operator reported Dumbstruck

"What?how is that possible,check the magi for errors on synchronization ratio display." Ritsuko ordered,Shinji synch ratio was pretty high,he'd been told he was a natural, the problem was that here it wasn't supposed be that high. Well,not like he would lower his synch ratio just so he'd seem less suspicious.

"Magi reports a 0,00000000000045% probability of error sempai" the same operator,Maya,replied.

"Amazing" Was Ritsuko's response and by the look on Misato's face it seemed like she was thinking the same thing

"Harmonics are normal,no disturbances."

"We can do this."Ritsuko didn't seem to believe her own words,here they were,proving to the world they wouldn't go out without a fight. Misato's only response was a wide smile and a nod.

"Prepare to launch."Misato ordered.

Shinji heard quite the bit more chatter from the crew as the various locks around his evangelion were dis-engaged and it was moved to the launch pad.

In the bridge Misato looked at commander Ikari.  
"Can we really do this?"Was her question. A simple one but with a lot of meaning behind it.

"Its our only choice,we have no future otherwise."Was Gendo's reply,He looked at the screen that showed the inside of the entry plug."Are you ready for this?"

"Hai!" He then gives them a thumbs up.

"LAUNCH!"Misato shouted.

And Shinji screamed. He had trained for a lot of things,but the one thing he hadn't trained for was going towards the surface at mach 15.

And as the Eva leaves the launch catapult he sees himself face-to-face with Sachiel,the first of many angels he would have to kill.

And he was ready.  
…

 **Hello there,as some of you might have noticed,this is an updated version of this chapter with less grammatical errors but little to no alteration on the plot itself.  
This chapter didn't really have too many deviations from canon,but those will mostly happen later on.**


	2. Chapter 2-Sachiel falls and a new life

_**So,here comes the second chapter where Shinji finally fights Sachiel.  
**_

 _ **This chapter was supposed to come out the day after the first,well it took way longer than I expected It to write so sorry for the wait I suppose.**_

…

* * *

"Shinji,just focus on walking right now."Misato said from the bridge. _walk?WALK!?THAT THING IS_ _LESS_ _THAN 50 METERS IN FRONT OF ME!_ No,Shinji decided he wouldn't just walk,how about a leap?With that Eva-01 jumps toward the angel bringing down its fist as it does,The thing Shinji had forgotten one very crucial thing about fighting angels,the had an AT field. Shinji girth his teeth as his,or more accurately what felt like his fist impacted a very solid wall of energy.

"Shinji!are you alright?"While Shinji was indeed moved by her concern he had more pressing matters to attend to. Eva-01 jumps back,for a few seconds both colossal beasts simply look at each other,and then Sachiel stepped forwards,its colossal figure standing at about the Eva's own height. It however made no move to attack,simply watching for a solid 30 seconds.

"Well if you aren't gonna attack first,then I guess I'll do it!"Unit 1 charged forwards,Shinji focused on the enemy AT Field,to be more exact he focused on eroding it,Eva-01 began to erode the angel's field,Sachiel takes a step back as if surprised,Shinji presses his attack breaking through the angel's AT field and attempting to send a punch directly at its core,only for the angel to catch his arm and crush it,the armor plating giving away underneath the enemy's hand and the bone crunching as it breaks under the pressure.

"AGHHHHH!"Shinji's screaming voice seemed through echo in the silence of the bridge.

"Shinji,Focus its just in your head!"Misato shouted over his screams.

"HOW ABOUT WE CHANGE PLACES AND I BREAK YOUR WRIST,THEN WE'LL SEE JUST HOW MUCH ITS JUST IN MY HEAD!"Shinji shouted back and used his free arm to punch the arm Sachiel was holding him in. The angel's arm seems damaged and it lets go of shinji's own with a low shriek of pain.  
If Shinji remembered correctly he could heal the fractures and plate damage with his AT Field if he concentrated,of course that was hard with a harbinger of death staring you down.

He then did something that was probably very stupid,he detached his power cable and ran like he'd never run before. As he ran he concentrated on healing his Eva's arm and it worked,to some extent,he'd managed to heal the broken bone but the armor plating was still shattered.  
He reads out the internal battery timer,4:30. _Good enough.  
_ Shinji wills unit 1 to remove the prog knife from the left shoulder pylon and turns towards the angel,who had leapt in his direction and was now some 300 meters in front of him.

He charges towards the angel, puts one of its hands up in a rather feeble attempt to stop the might of the incoming Evangelion, knife goes through it with ease leading the knife directly into the angel's core, uses its good hand and grabs at the Eva's head extending its light lance into the Evangelion's head. Shinji screams in pain,feeling as if his own head is being pierced by the spear of light but doesn't losses his grip on the weapon in his hands and pushes further into its core.  
1:90,The core starts to crack,the lance retracts and extends into the Evangelion's skull 's grip on the weapon loosens for a moment,that's all the angel needs.

"NO!its going to self destruct!"That's the last thing Shinji remembers hearing before the pain overtakes him.

…

* * *

Shinji woke up in a hospital room. not for the first and probably last time in his life.

"Yet another unknown ceiling..."He'd grown used to those with age,hey had once scarred him,now they were part of everyday life as much as anything else.

Shinji dressed with his usual clothing,his favored white shirt and black pants and left the hospital room, _no point in waiting in an uncomfortable bed._

He then looks out the window,he had taken to doing that recently,one could pick up a lot about the world and its people by merely looking out the window and watching. A young,blue haired girl passes by him on a stretcher eyeing him curiously as she does so. _Ayanami,Rei,plays a specific,yet undisclosed role in the scenario,half Lilith,half my mother,half my sister. does that make her my half sister?or quarter sister?he'd have to ask his father just how much of his mother's own genetic material was in Ayanami._

Shinji sat down in the waiting room and looked at his wrist,of course the damage wasn't there,but mentally at least he'd broken his wrist just yesterday,yet here it was good as new. _I didn't expect any damage but still it just felt so...real I guess. Sympathetic damage sucks!_

Misato Wordlessly approaches and Shinji gives her a re-assuring smile.

…

* * *

Shinji Had not expected his father on the hospital,hell he would have half expected the man to simply appear in his newly designated apartment like some sort of creepy old guy or something,but not in an hospital,his father _**Loathed**_ Hospitals,Gendo Ikari despised them with such a passion that his wife,Shinji's mother had to _force_ him to go there after Gendo broke an arm before he was born. He hated them so incredibly much he'd been the last male Yui knew to see Shinji just so he didn't have to enter a thrice damned hospital.

"Dad?"The look of confusion on his son's face would have made Gendo laugh if he wasn't in a god forsaken five times damned irritable awful hospital.

"I've come to inform you that major Katsuragi and I have agreed that you will stay in her care for the duration of your stay at NERV,and to check on your wounds."

"I'm cool with living with Miss Katsuragi,and I'm not really injured. Thank you for your concern"Shinji replied.

"Now I'm going to take the quickest way out of this fucking place as quickly as possible"Gendo then started pushing the elevator door 'closing' button erratically before a few seconds later the elevator doors closed and it started its descent.

…

* * *

They were now both on Misato's car,still damaged from the N2 mine explosion but functional.

"Well we have to have a party right?"Misato asked cheerfully.

"Well,I'm not opposed to a party by any means but what for?"That was something most didn't expect,Shinji the boy who liked to sit in his own corner and listen to classical music on his SDAT and who liked philosophy classes way more than any boy his age should,that same Shinji Ikari loved parties,he liked his peace and quiet sure,but he relished the chance to relax and let his emotions out on dancing to the newest hits and spending time with others in those kinds of social events.

"Welcoming my new roommate of course!"She asked again with that overly Cheer full tone that both annoyed and motivated Shinji. He just smiled widely in response,his first real friend In Tokyo-3,Perhaps saving the world wont be so difficult after all. Not with people like Misato by his side.

….

* * *

"So,your moving out after all?"Shinji couldn't help but overhear the 2 house-wives as they passed by.

"Yes,this place just isn't safe anymore,to think it would become a battlefield,Betty lost her eldest in the last attack."She heard the other say.

"Isn't that the kind of thing I'm supposed to stop from happening?"He whispered the question to himself as he balled his fists in frustration,he was supposed to be helping these people saving them and all of mankind,but because he was too slow,or too weak or too reckless that woman would have to live her life without ever seeing her son again. _because I failed,because I wasn't good enough._ Shinji hated that feeling of doing his best yet knowing it was not enough,it made him feel small,helpless to save himself and more importantly others.

"Did you say something Shinji?"Misato asked as she turned around.

"No,just thinking aloud is all."

…

* * *

"Hey,Shinji."Shinji turned to Misato,a large bag of which he was sure 90% of its contents was beer on his lap.

"Yes Misato,what is it?"He asked as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Do you mind if we stop somewhere?"She made the question with a rather hope-full expression on her face.

"No I wont mind."He replied, _anything to get rid of this god-forsaken bag of beer and some food,and I am curious where she's taking me._

A few more minutes of silent riding and they arrive at their destination,a small road overlooking the city.

"The city from up here looks so lonely,empty. It's hard to believe 600,000 people live here."He said aloud.

"Its time."

And with a blare of alarms,the city returned to its normal configuration,Buildings rising from their defensive positions underneath the ground and piercing the skies with their size.

"Amazing..."Was the only word Shinji could make come out of his mouth as he looked on in awe as the buildings rose.

"This is Tokyo-3,this is our city,and its the city you saved. So be proud of it."Misato told Shinji,who for his part was looking no longer at the city,but at the horizon beyond it. The sun lowering into the hill-side. _More than that_. he thought . _this is the world I saved._

"I am."Was his truthful answer.  
...

* * *

Shinji was carrying a grocery bag while Misato carried the other,they finally reach Misato's apartment.

"Your things should already been delivered"For that he was thankful,he did not have many possessions ,but those he did he cherished greatly.

"Well,i just moved into this apartment too."Misato stated."Come in"

"Pardon the intrusion"He said.

"Come on now Shinji,this is your home now."Misato said with a small laugh

"Well then. Im home"With that he took a confident step into his home and what he felt like was the first true step into his new life

"Welcome Home."  
…

* * *

Shinji finally got a bath after 2,1.5? days of stress. There many questions going on in his mind,like who in their right mind keeps a penguin as a pet,who can be so messy?who could have lived in that mess for more than a minute without stabbing their eyes out with a fork?However for now at least he choose to ignore those questions,baths were on the luxuries he'd allowed himself in-between his secretive NERV training and his school and social lives. They eased the mind in a way that the 3-5 hours of sleep a day he'd been getting before coming to Tokyo-3 didn't.

Eventually he had to,of course leave the bath and decided he'd go to bed early today,early for him at least at put on his SDAT,listened to his music and feel into a dreamless slumber.

...

* * *

"So,how was Rei today?"Ritsuko asked as Gendo looked on to the immobilized figure of Unit-00.

"She's fine,will be ready to work in a month if her wounds heal well." Was his short reply."By then we'll have to re-activate unit-00."

"Very well. Have you told her yet?"There was hope in her voice,hope which was crushed when Gendo shook his head no and replied.  
"No,She's not been informed in the change to the scenario since my last conversation with Shinji before he arrived on Tokyo-3"

Ritsuko just sighed and hoped things would turn out for the better. They had to,for humanity's sake.

…

* * *

 _ **So I couldn't introduce Rei this chapter as it would make it even harder for me to get this out by today,sorry about that.  
This chapter was shorter than I wanted it too but I feel was not too bad.**_


	3. Chapter 3-The berserker awakens

_**Here goes chapter 3-A slice of normality and the berserker awakens  
...**_

"So Shinji Have you memorized the positions of all the Eva emergence locations, emergency power junctions, armament equipment buildings and recovery zones?" Ritsuko asked to a rather bored looking Shinji.

"Yes,it was incredibly tedious to so by the way." He answered in a rather monotone voice,while he had gotten some decent sleep that night,thank whatever deities there may be. Shinji was not in the mood for pointless combat training courses he'd already gone through at the age of ten.

"Yes,yes but its necessary. Do you need me to give you power cable speech again?" Shinji was actually quite happy she did ask,the last 3 times they'd done that god-forsaken program in that week alone she'd gone through the motions of explaining internal power batteries and the umbilical cable every time,and he was to be completely honest, pretty fucking done with it.

"No, I'm good thanks." Was his short,slightly more energetic reply.

"Lets continue from where we left off yesterday. Begin induction mode" With that a simulated environment formed itself around unit 1 and the internal battery count down began.

"Position the target in the center... Then squeeze the trigger" Ritsuko explained.

"I know how to shoot a rifle doctor Akagi" Shinji replied as he effortlessly hit the simulated Sachiel In the chest with a hail of gun-fire.

"If you are so sure your of yourself then, very well,Increasing the simulation's intensity."Ritsuko replied as a small smile tugged at her lips.

 **…**

* * *

The door to Misato's room slid open.

"Hey,Misato its morning already,just letting you know." Shinji spoke,he had in reality been awake for 2 hours listening to his SDAT,he was simply an early raiser,so he of course knew she had only returned from work a short while ago,nonetheless he asked her.

Shinji then heard a mumble closely resembling the words 'just got back from work'.

"OK,then I'll let you rest."He closed the door and went about his own life,he also made sure to dispose of the burnable garbage.  
 **….**

* * *

Shinji arrived at school and went about to sit on his normal seat. He sees Ayanami again and looks at her for a few seconds before sitting down.

Kensuke is for lack of a better word,playing with a model airplane while recording it with his camera when Hikari arrives.

"Did you deliver the printout I delivered yesterday?"She questioned the boy.

"No one was home at his place."Kensuke replied.

"Aren't you even a little worried about him?"She asks.

"You think he was injured or something?"

"The Television reports didn't report any injured." Hikari stated.

"Did you see the damage the city took?and you can see the explosion marks on Mt. Toconuso. They must be hushing up the deaths and injured or something like that."Was Kensuke's reply,television reports were often nonfactual and biased,which is he himself wanted to become a journalist,to make sure said reports were as truthful as possible.

The class room doors slid open and Toji walked in.

"Why were you absent for so long?Did you get yourself involved in the battle?"Kensuke questioned his friend as he continued to play around with this camera.

"My little sister was..."This immediately picks up Kensuke's attention who lowered his camera and looked at Toji with a surprised expression."She was crushed under a pile of rubble,she's alive but has been in the hospital since." Toji finished with a saddened expression on his face

"And that pilot,how could he be some dumb to wreck our own city!What did the stupid idiot think he was doing!"He shouted out in anger,which of course Shinji heard. _He's right,because of my own failures his sister was nearly killed...i have to help somehow._ This was all his fault yet he had no idea how to help. _Mental note:Kick father over the head for not putting 'how to deal with people whose family you killed' as part of his training programs._

"About the pilot,have you heard the rumors about the new kid?" _Well,that took them a whole of 10 seconds to figure out. Now I'm gonna get beaten up by the school jock,not that I don't deserve it._

"New kid?" Toji asked.

"him over there." _fantastic,he was talking about me,not like there are many new kids around. Shinji_ thought."He transferred while you were absent,right after the incident." Kensuke added. Shinji did suppose that was incredibly obvious,which did beg the question of why no one on NERV had though of it either,it would have been simpler and easier to simply have him transferred after a couple weeks and no one would suspect anything. didn't matter not now at least he'd fix this,somehow.

 **...**

* * *

Shinji receives a message

'Are you the pilot of the mecha? Y/N' there was no point in trying to keep it a secret now.

'yes'

The entire class erupts into a frenzy of questions and shock, _should not have replied to that_.

"Hey,we're still in class so sit down!"ordered Horaki, Unfortunately for Shinji the students were already all on top of him asking questions such as

"Hey,how were you chosen?"

"Were there any tests?"

"Weren't you scared?

"what's the cockpit look like?"

"I can't talk about classified stuff."Shinji was a bit overwhelmed and slightly flustered at all the women around him.

"Come on don't be mean!"

"What's the robot called?"

"Now that's a question I can answer,its called evangelion unit 01"Shinji answered,he was at least 96.3% sure that wasn't classified,but even in the event that it was,he wouldn't get into too much trouble. _Being the son of one the world's most influential organizations does have its perks._ Perks he would very much abuse if they were having him fight 60 meter tall harbingers of death.

 **…**

* * *

 _Okay I deserve that but,OW!_ Were Shinji's thoughts as Toji Suzuhara's fist made impact with his face. While he did believe he deserved it,the fact Toji wasn't either immobilized or dead at this point spoke droves of section 2's competence.

"Sorry newcomer but I've got too work off some rage." In all honesty Shinji had heard people with worst excuses for trying to hit him,keyword trying,Shinji could have broken Suzuhara's arm in 4 different ways if he didn't' believe he deserved the punishment he was getting.

"Sorry,his sister was injured in the incident,that's his excuse anyway."Aida whispered.

"I know,he wouldn't have all of his bones intact if I didn't."Was Shinji's reply. Wich seemed to have been said a tad too loud as Toji turned around,picked him up by the collar and punched him again before walking away.

He heard light footsteps coming his way and looked towards their direction to see Ayanami approaching him.

"We've gotten an emergency call, I'll go" _An emergency call. That means one of 2 things,Father's out of toilet paper in his private bathroom or an angel is attacking._

 **…**

* * *

"The Target has been detected by our sensors,its already entered our territorial waters."One of the bridge crew spoke.

"Assume battle stations,level Tokyo-3 into combat formation"The sub-commander ordered

The City began to shift and its buildings began to lower,streets where blocked off as gigantic buildings lowered into the geo-front.

"What's the status on civilians and non-combatants?"Misato requested.

"Reports show a 99% efficiency in the evacuation efforts,most non-military personnel have been evacuated."

The JSSDF were trying their hand at it again,shooting the angel with Hundreds of rounds and dozens of anti-air missiles to no effect. Not that the city's own defensive systems were doing much more to the damnable creature.

"Its impressive they managed to mobilize these many forces in just 3 weeks."Misato commented,the JSSDF were incompetent at dealing with angel's and far too proud for their own good,but at the very least they were incredibly persistent,not that did them any good at the moment.

"What a waste of taxpayer's money"Fuyutsuki spat out in a venomous tone.

"The committee is demanding we dispatch an evangelion again,ma'am"

"Oh,they get on my nerves,i would have deployed it anyway."She answered.

Meanwhile Shinji's plug is lowered into his Evangelion's spine.

 _Here I go,to save the world again. Is THAT really why I pilot?To save the world,people I care about?or something else..._

 **…**

* * *

"Hey,Toji can we speak privately for a second?" Kensuke asks to his friend,both of them already on the evacuation shelter.

"What for?"Toji replies.

"It's just a second,come on"Kensuke answered,as he grabbed onto his camera.

"Okay,okay. CLASS REP!"Toji shouts the last part as they get up from their spot on the ground. She turns around from her conversation and looks at them.

"We both have to have to go to the bathroom!"

"You were supposed to do that before you got here!"was Hokari's angered response.

A few minutes later and they are in the decrepit,old looking bathroom.

"So,what's this about?"Toji asked,curiosity finally over-taking him.

"I've got to see it,at least once!"Kensuke Said with incredible enthusiasm

"The battle?"

"Nobody knows when the next enemy will come.."

"Kensuke..."Toji groans"you can't be serious"

"If we let this opportunity escapes us we loose it forever!Please help me unlock the gate"Kensuke was practically begging at this point,his desire to see the battle above overwhelming the one to stay in safety

"You Could get us both killed!"

"And?who's to say we're safe down here!" Kensuke shot back

"And what do you think NERV is for?"

"And what's NERV's most important weapon?The robot whose pilot you just punched in the face twice,He could refuse to fight and we all die anyway."

"I guess that makes it my obligation to watch the battle or sumthing?"Toji sighs"lets go"

 **…**

* * *

"Shinji,are you ready?"Misato of course rather rudely interrupts Shinji's internal debate on why he pilots.

"Ready and willing ma'am"Now that was the part he wasn't so sure about _willing,_ sure he was ready but did he _want_ to fight giant death monsters that came from the closest thing to a god there was?Of course he knew he had to fight,mankind's survival rested on the fact,but did he _want to?_ that was the big question. However that was a question he had to ask himself later because at that exact moment, Shinji had a battle to win.

"Launch!"Misato shouts and Shinji's admit-ably sweet ride is sent upwards at mach 15.

Kensuke and Toji watched in awe as the evangelion left its launch catapult.

"Shinji,the AT field has been deployed,do as planned"Shinji simply nodded in response-

His unit turns and unleashes its mighty fury upon its target in a rain of steel and lead .Of course Shinji realized he'd just unleashed so many bullets into the target it was now covered in smoke,but that didn't matter because it was dead,right?

He was proven wrong when a whip of light cut through both the smoke,his rifle and the building next to him. _Okay,not dead. let's ignore the fact I just unleashed the fire power of a small army on it with no effect and think of a plan._

"I'm sending you a spare rifle Shinji,take it!"He heard Misato state over the communication's channel,couldn't they give him something else?something which had not just 3 seconds ago proved to have ZERO effect on the thing. Misato's plan was 'shoot it until it dies' why was she promoted again?Why was he focusing on this small detail at the moment? perhaps a way of keeping himself form panicking with the extreme pain he'd just felt,probably that.

The angel unleashes its whips on its downed foe, who barely evades it and runs away _. away from the spare weapon,clearly I have a superior intelligence._ The angel lets losse its whips on Shinji again who for his part tries to evade but is hit,his Cable snapping as he falls on a building.

 _Great battle performance there ace._ Shinji thinks as the enemy grabs him by the foot and throws him into a hill. _And in comes the burning pain!_

"Shinji are you alright,Shinji are you alright?!"His only response to Misato's question is to grunt in pain as he attempts,and fails to will his Eva up. He notices something on,or to be more exact,something near the palm of his evangelion. He freezes as he sees what it is

"Shinji's Classmates?"Misato asks in confusion as she looks through the feed and at the two boys.

"What are they doing here?"Ritsuko adds.

The angel floats above his unit and lets loose its whips,Shinji grabs onto them grunting in pain as they burn through the Eva's armor and into its hands.

"Shinji let them into your cockpit and retreat."He hears Misato order. _Let them into the entry plug?that will cause mental feedback,i might not even be ABLE to retreat._

"

Do you think you can allow un-authorized civilians into an entry plug!"Ritsuko asks

"Im authorizing it."

"Your over steeping your bounds,Commander"

"Hold the eva on current commands and eject the plug,now!"Misato orders. Shinji simply sighs as he does so. _This battle just got 10 times harder.  
_

Unit-01 throws the angel away as the 2 other young menentered the cockpit.

"Retreat through route 34."He doesn't hear Misato's order nor does he hear Toji beg him to do same,all he can feel is an Un-clenching primal, hot rage as he regains control of his eva.

The Eva's Jaw bolts break apart,it opens its jaws and both it and its pilot let out a synchronized ear-piercing roar. Steam leaves its mouth as it rushes down the mountain,the angel lets loose its whips, they pierce into the Eva's stomach,Shinji feels the pain but his mind cannot focus on it,there was only on thing in it at that moment pure,unadulterated evangelion moves forwards ignoring the pain as it strikes the angel's core with its fists again and again and again.

"Eva-01 running out of internal power in 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1"The crew of the bridge watch stunned as instead of stopping the Eva keeps moving,keeps landing blow after blow on the core's surface until it cracks and finally shatters

"How could it be?"One of the bridge crew asks

"The Eva should have been unable to move 30 seconds ago."Another states.

In the cockpit, Shinji takes notice of the pain lancing through his gut and the blood that's now staining his plugsuit and cries in pain.

 **…**

* * *

In the classroom,Rei watches the rain fall,one of the few things she does enjoy doing and Toji and Kensuke speak

"Its been three days"Toji says,head on his arms as they sit on the table.

"Since we were chewed up?"Kensuke asks

"Since he stooped coming to school"

"Who's he?"Kensuke asks,of course he already knew the answer.

"The new kid of course."Toji answers.

"Are you worried about him?"

"I wouldn't say worried,but..."

"For someone who is so tactless,your pretty stubborn."Kensuke says"If you had apologized back then you wouldn't agonize over it for 3 days."He hands him a piece of paper "Its his phone number,if your worried,call him."

 **…**

* * *

Ritsuko looks at unit-01.

"The berserker awakens...the question is,are you the berserker,or is he?"

 **...**

* * *

 **I'd say this chapter had a pretty decent fight,its a pretty good way to show how unit-01's berserk mode will work in this fic.  
Anyway,this next chapter will be the hardest to write mostly due to the changes i'll have to make in it.**


	4. Chapter 4-A stronger resolve in the end

**This took way too long to write for 2 reasons.  
1.I had _no_ idea how to write it at all.  
2.I haven't been feeling well enough to write lately.  
Anyway here goes nothing,onto chapter 4**

…

* * *

Misato was never one to wake up early,she often spent as much time as humanly possible in her bed when she didn't have to work,her new charge was quite unlike her in that regard,he woke up extremely early in the morning for no apparent reason and when asked as to why he'd simply replied that it was habit,she had decided not to push the issue further. That was the reason she was worried for the boy at the moment,ever since his battle with the fourth angel he had been missing school for nearly a week and sleeping extremely late,even by her standards.

"Shinji-kun,you can't keep missing school " That was technically speaking a lie,NERV privileges given to the boy made it so he didn't _have_ to go to school,yet he did so anyway if only because he would lack anything to do at home during that time. Misato waited a few minutes for an answer only to get none,that was odd she expected at very least a short reply from the boy,for him to ignore her was unlike him. Slowly she opens his room's door and peeks inside,finding to her surprise an empty room.

"Has he...ran away?"

 **…  
**

* * *

Toji did not remember ever being so afraid of doing something his entire life,it was j simple,ring the bell,ask for Shinji and apologize for hitting him in the face,yet after what had happened inside the evangelion and that,that scream he was extremely afraid the boy might even bite his head off.

"Here goes nothin'" He says as he takes a shaky step forward and rings the bell.

"Shinji?!" A rather attractive female woman said as she opened the apartment building in a hurry. Was that Shinji's mother perhaps?No she was a bit too young for that,not to say she looked nothing like Shinji,his guardian perhaps?

"uhh..." Toji did not get to finish,or for that matter even begin his sentence before getting distracted by her...'assets'

"uh,we're Shinji's classmates,Aida and Suzuhara." Kensuke said with an unnatural,at least for him,level of confidence. "We are looking for Shinji. Is he home?"

"Shinji" Misato said,she had to come up with an apropriate excuse as to why the boy was gone,there had to be a reason for him to go,he wouldn't run away without a that Misato was sure. "he's at NERV,classified stuff.."

"If that is so then we'll be leaving,oh and give these to Shinji,they are printouts,they started building up in Shinji's desk." Kensuke said as he gave her the small stack of papers wicth she took with a smile

"I apologize for your trouble. Thank you"She then closes the door,leaving the two boys to look at the door in amazement.

"An expected development"

"Shinji's guardian's such a babe."

…

* * *

Shinji Ikari didn't take notice of the time passing,he simply listened to his SDAT for hours on end,people entered and left the train,time passed yet he couldn't feel time passing,only listen to the music as it soothed him. He didn't know why,had it been the talk with Misato after the fourth angel?the pain? Why had he run away?He shouldn't have,the world depended on him,yet he felt as if it wasn't fair,that it wasn't fair for him to suffer that much. _'no one else can.'_ His mind told him, _'you were the only choice.' 'but why me?'_ Another part asked,the naive,hopeful and emotional part of him,the one who was a mere 14 year old boy wanting to live his life. _'So,you would let everyone suffer because you want a normal life?'_ no,he wouldn't.

He had to admit,even if only to himself that he had a hero complex,he couldn't bring himself to simply let people suffer when he could help them. But he also knew he hated pain,he hated pain more than anything else in his life,he wanted to run away from pain. And those 2 ideals were constantly in battle inside his mind. Yet he always choose the first,why? Because he knew that if he ran away and let people be hurt he would feel pain,he couldn't win,not truly.

He had always chosen to keep to the ideal that physical pain wouldn't matter as well as he could help people,perhaps that was his delusional self thinking back then,of course it would matter. The pain was over-whelming to the point where he still felt it beneath the bundle of bandages wrapped beneath his shirt.

He walked into a cinema,bought a ticket to a movie about second impact and sat down,he didn't care about the movie really,he just needed somewhere to be. somewhere that wasn't home. He noticed a couple in one of the few occupied seats,they were making out perhaps were even gonna have sex. _disgusting_ ,he thought. Yet at the same time he longed for it,for someone who would care for him on that level,sure he had his father and Misato,but they were different,Misato was genuinely nice and cared about him as if he was her son but he knew he would have to dis-appoint her in the future, and his father,while his father truly cared for him,he cared more about his mother and as such their time together would be short especially with his job,so he had no one,no one in his new life to love. _I guess that's one thing that doesn't change when you move,no one caring about you in the end..._

Why had he ran away?Why,why had his mind been broken after merely 2 fights,surely he couldn't be that pathetic?Yet as the sun rose and he walked through the streets he found he still couldn't bring himself to walk back home. So he continued walking slowly yet steady towards an unknown objective,a purpose perhaps. And he walked and he walked,he couldn't remember for how long he had walked,all he knew was that it had been hours and he was far off city limits,yet he continued walking. He sat down and looked at the city,it looked as beautiful as ever,in par at least due to his efforts to protect it. He thought back to what had happened in the last battle.

…

* * *

At the time he was still in his plugsuit,still recovering from his outburst,his eyes were distant,he couldn't remember much detail,couldn't even tell you the color of the wall he had been looking at,but he remembered the words well.

"Why did you ignore my orders?"A rather irate Misato demanded to know,because ' _I'm more suited to making battle tactics than you perhaps?'_ was what the soldier in him begged him to say,but he didn't,antagonizing Misato would only make things more difficult,so he didn't.

"I'm sorry"Shinji didn't mean it,of course he didn't,what had her orders mattered in the end?the thing was dead. He was victorious and the end of the world had been averted.  
"Your supposed to obey my orders,do you understand that Shinji?"

"Yes" Of course he understood orders were to be followed,but in the end he'd snapped,he remembered little from the fight,just his own inhuman scream,even so he'd won so what did it matter in the end?

"don't do it again,do you understand?"

"yes"

"Are you even listening to what I'm saying?!"Listening,yes he was _listening_ just not paying attention to the things being said.

"Yes."He answered once more,he simply wanted to leave,the pain on his recently bandaged stomach hurt like a bitch and he was incredibly hungry

"You are NOT getting out of this by just saying yes to everything." _well,there goes that plan_. were Shinji's rather bitter sounding thoughts.

"That's enough,we won the battle,what does it matter if I didn't follow some stupid plan!"He was perhaps for the first time since coming to Tokyo-3,pissed off she'd have all the right to complain once _SHE_ got into one of those things and felt her guts be pierced by a fucking demon in all but name!

"Listen,just because you killed it doesn't mean you can ignore orders!You'll get yourself killed with such a reckless attitude"

"I don't care."He stood up and headed to leave only to stop at the door. "As long as I give humanity a fighting chance I don't really care if I live or die,as long a I give my bes...t-then,then you can all live happy,so don't worry about me.

 **…**

* * *

"captain!"

"Aida! Go on ahead"

"But I can't leave you behind!" kensuke was about to continue his drama when he noticed someone above him.

"Boom,your dead." Shinji says as he 'shoots' kensuke with his finger gun.

"New kid..." Kensuke muttered as he watched the boy smile at him.

 **…**

* * *

They were sitting by the fire. Shinji liked fire,he never knew why,he wasn't an arsonist or pyromaniac. It simply gave off warmth from a distance warming one as long as they didn't get too close,he liked that the distant yet very much _real_ warmth that emanated from the fire. **[1]**

"Toji's sorry about that by the way" Shinji knew what 'that' was,the 2 punches he'd rightfully received to the face for hurting Toji's sister. He believed that had been an unfair deal,for Toji that is,his sister was extremely injured and might even never walk again all because of his failures as an eva pilot.

"His sister was supper pissed about saying ya saved the city and all."Shinji didn't believe he'd saved anyone,he had simply done as he had been told,what he had been trained to do and had _failed_ at it,he knew people had died, knew all their names,he'd memorized them,the names of everyone that had died because of his actions.

…

* * *

The room was dimly lit,and as far as Shinji could tell was the same one he'd spoken to Misato in after the battle against the fourth angel. _oh sweet mother of irony._

"Do you feel any better after dis-appearing for two days?"Misato asked as she looked at him with a dis-appointed expression.

"Not really."He'd only managed to find himself with more doubts and questions then he had before leaving.

"Unit-01 has been repaired. Will you pilot it?"

"It doesn't matter..."

"what?"

"My choice...it doesn't matter."

"If you think we're forcing you Shinji,your wrong,if you want to leave than do so,we Don't need pilots with that attitude!"

"Its not you or NERV that is forcing me to stay here,its myself." She looked confused for a moment before Shinji continued. "I can already tell what will happen when the next angel attacks,you send out Ayanami,her low Synch rate fails her and then we're all doomed because the great third child ran away. No,i refuse to let more people die because of my actions Misato. If I have to carry the weight of the world on my shoulders,then so be it." He had made his choice long ago,this little self-evaluation of his during the little trip had only confirmed it,he couldn't stand by and do nothing,it wasn't in his nature. "I'll pilot,because I must,because there is not other choice,because if I don't then I'll hate myself for it for the rest of my miserable life!For everyone's sake but my own,i will end the angels.." _I will end them,no matter the cost..._

…

* * *

"Have you heard of the situation with the third child?"Ritsuko knew of course that Gendo was aware of his son's temporary dis-appearance,after all the boy was such an important part in the scenario Gendo had increased security around the pilots tenfold after the third's debut as a pilot. What she was more worried about was if Shinji's resolve was still intact.

"The third child's resolve to the scenario is not at risk,it is understandable he would have some second thoughts at this stage,but if these doubts have not broken his resolve yet,its unlikely anything else will."Gendo stated,behind them Rei listened to the conversation intently,more so than she normally did with the commander's conversations,which was a lot. Rei was...confused would perhaps be the word? About the boy's importance in the scenario as anything but the pilot of unit-01,yet it seemed the commander had plans for him beyond that. _Quite interesting,i must observe pilot Ikari intently, and perhaps even directly question commander Ikari about this matter at a later date?_

"With all do respect commander,the games your playing are extremely dangerous ones." Ritsuko knew the commander was a man many times more intelligent than she was,yet she couldn't help but doubt some of his decisions,for example choosing to tell his son about the full extent of the scenario,something that,if the boy had not been willing to help,could have destroyed it completely. _Before that scenario was changed to accommodate Shinji's survival that was...  
_

"You should know by now ..." He steeped inside the elevator and then continued before the door closed "...I only play games I plan on winning."

…

* * *

"come on just do it!hit me in the face!" Toji ordered Shinji,which himself just sighed. He understood why the jock wanted him so they were 'cool' but Shinji didn't think there was any need for that. He legitimately believed he had deserved those punches,on the other hand of course he knew Toji wouldn't stop demanding to be punched. So he choose the path of list resistance clenched his fist and

"here goes nothing.." Hit Toji right in the jaw,to be honest it _did_ feel satisfying to punch someone with his own fists again. He had just hoped it would have been a bully or a thug,not Suzuhara.

"Damn new kid,you throw a mean punch." Toji said with a small laugh as he rubbed his sore cheek. "We're even now." He smiles and stretches out his hand "Friends?".

"Friends." Shinji replies as he shakes it. "Lets head to class then,shall we?We don't want Horaki beating us up because we're late."They all laugh and head inside the school,now friends.

…

* * *

"This is somehow all your fault"If unit-01 could have raised its middle finger in response to Akagi's statement,it would have. Instead its just shifted its head slightly in Akagi's direction

"Love you too Yui."Ritsuko said with the most fake cheer she could muster.

…

* * *

 **I really liked to write this chapter in the end,it was pretty though due to the fact it deviates more from canon than most others but I still like it anyway.  
**


	5. Chapter 5-REImeil and pilots

**So,the chapter in which Shinji meets Rei,defeats Ramiel and is informed of the fourth and fifth child's identities.  
Chapter 5-REImeil  
This was _not_ supposed be a 6k word long chapter,it just kinda happened.**

…

* * *

 _NERV Headquarters,experimentation station 02._

 _Unit-00 activation test.  
Playing back footage_

Gendo pushed his glasses up his nose,he really had to get them checked to see if they were the right size,they kept sliding off and while it did look intimidating he actually _needed_ those and pushing them every time he wanted to see clearly was getting bothersome.

"Begin activation test." He watched with mild interest as the activation commenced,he'd never enjoyed the monotony that was watching a unit activate,thought he disliked the alternative much more when it came to unit-00 it had a tendency to go berserk. _And its doing it again. Gendo_ took a step back as the giant continued to pound the glass,it bending and cracking under its massive fists.

"Abort the experiment,now!" He ordered with just a little bit more emotion behind his voice than normal. Gendo watched the unit eject Rei and waited with uncharacteristic impatience for the beast to run out of power so he could help the girl. To say he had not gotten attached to Rei would be a lie.

He rushed over to her ejected entry plug and burned his hands in the process of opening it,he cared little,at that moment he cared much more about Rei's well being.

"REI?!Are you alright?"When no response came from inside the entry plug he put his head inside it,relived to find a barely conscious but still very much alive Rei Ayanami,he sighed in relief as he hugged the girl,getting a small grunt of pain from her. don't _ever scare me like that again rei._

Gendo watched silently as the medical crew took the young girl away,Gendo sighed,that had not been supposed to happen. He was not supposed to care for Ayanami,he was not suppose to care for his son,his whole scenario had been derailed by a single conversation with a ten year old!Yet even if all of that was not supposed to happen it did happen,he had found himself growing attached to the girl,he had grown to care for his son and he had learned that perhaps it was time he moved on...

 **…**

"So,this is what the enemy looks like from up close" Shinji looked up,to be fair he was somewhat intimidated by its sheer size,that intimidation was only worsened by the fact he could still feel some pain from his still bandaged gut. _damned bastard,served you right!_

And now Shinji Ikari found yet another reason to pilot,these things were fucking assholes. Seriously,they straight up attacked out of fucking no-where and killed people for no reason other than that they were in the way to their final goal,real assholes.

"Everything but the core remains intact,just perfect." Said Ritsuko in a very cheery, un-Ritsuko like voice. Shinji cataloged that voice as another item in the list of things that are annoying about Ritsuko Akagi,right next to the volume of things that are annoying about Misato Katsuragi and just before the volume about his own father. _Wow,now that I think about it,a lot of people in my life are pretty annoying...maybe its me?Nah couldn't be right? OK_ he did admit he was somewhat easily annoyable but not to the point _everything_ annoyed him,he could stand Aida and Suzuhara. _now,_ he added mentally. _For fuck's sake me,your undermining my own point!_

"So,did we find anything new yet?"Ritsuko simply answered that question by leading them to a computer and analyzing the answer,and as Shinji predicted the code had come back as '601'.Now _that_ interested Shinji,what _were_ angels made out of?Adam's own genetic material?Their own?Had they come from LCL as Lilin had?Was that something that was explained in the Dead-sea scrolls?The scientist in him,something he'd inherited from his mother, was rather pissed at not having an answer to these questions. Perhaps he could use his,or more accurately his father's,throne level access to find out,if there even was an answer to that question .He was probably overthinking something relatively simple.

"But you've at least found out its power source,haven't you?" Misato asked as she leaned In closer to her friend. The S2 Engine,or more correctly the S2 organ was indeed interesting,mostly due to the lack of information on how it worked,even SEELE and his father had at best a basic understanding of it,all that was known is that it could produce infinite energy,whether or not I meant it could create a blast powerful enough to destroy the planet or simply regenerate lost energy without external output was unknown,thought that would be tested soon enough,he had heard this angel's S2 organ would be sent to NERV-nevada for testing in Evangelion unit 4.

"Yes,however we've not found out how it operates at all." Ritsuko Shinji's own thoughts about the mystery that was the S2 engine."And although they are made out of an entirely different matter. Their actual composition mirrors that of humans at 99.89%"

"99.89%..."Misato said with no small amount of shock,Shinji expected that,angels were human after all,simply not Lilin,what 'humanity' was normally thought of as. Which was indeed an odd thought,could they even be considered a different species?They looked nothing alike and yet the similarities on a physical level were of 99.89%.

Shinji then noticed his father walk by and piece of the core being lowered down from a crane,he considered going there and talking to him but decided he was probably far too busy for that. He did however notice some pretty nasty looking burns in his father's hands,those certainly had to have been new,he would noticed them before if they weren't. Then again Shinji had only seen his father 4 years ago,it was not unlikely he could have gotten that wound in such a large time-frame.

"What's up Shinji-kun?" Misato asked,She must have noticed him get stuck in his own thoughts.

"Nothing." Was his stupid reply,now he _knew_ she would push it,he should have said something like 'just thinking about school' or 'wondering what we're eating tonight' but he had gone with the answer that most obviously said,there's clearly _something_ going on.

"You do know saying nothing like that only makes people pay more attention to you right?"He _did_ know that,he'd just forgotten.

"Ugh,you got me,i was just curious about how my father got his burns." He replied honestly,not like there was a point in lying about such unimportant things.

"Burns?" Misato asked with a confused expression before remembering about the burns on the commander's hands. She was also quite curious about what had injured the high and mighty commander of NERV,perhaps an oven?That was a hilarious thought,the commander of NERV,one of the most influential men in the world,burning his hand while cooking. "Do you know what happened Rits?"

"oh...that,it was before you came to NERV,Unit 00 had a berserker accident. The pilot was trapped inside."

"Ayanami correct?" He asked,poor girl,he'd read the gist of the reports,multiple fractures,broken ribs and the plug had overheated. The girl had probably been in immense pain,thought it was highly unlikely she'd _shown_ any. But if he'd read the reports right,which he had. Then there must have been a mistake because he remembered nothing about him in the report.

"yes,the commander rescued her,burned his hands opening the super heated hatch"Now _THAT_ surprised Shinji,His father risking his guts to save Ayanami,interesting. _Perhaps your not such a heartless bastard after all._

"Really?"The disbelief in his voice was quite real,his father probably wouldn't do that for _him_ ,to think he'd risk his hide for Ayanami, _have you of all people grown attached father?ironic._

 **…  
**

* * *

Shinji disliked physical education,why?It was an ineffective method of growing muscle and losing weight,that's why,he'd grown up with the best possible teachers putting him through hell so he could be the best EVA pilot ever and as such he had always had an easy time with these types of ball games which of course made them un-competitive due to their ease and seeing as they couldn't build muscle either he found them both boring _and_ pointless.

"Man,they've all got incredible breasts."He heard Toji say happily beside him,he himself had no interest in them,not that he had no interest in women in general,just not in his classmates, he found none truly attractive,not even Ayanami,which was just too odd looking to be considered _attractive_ per was also partially his sister,so no.

"Hey,bro"Toji's voice brought Shinji out of his internal monologue about his lack of interest in any of his classmates. "What are you looking at so intently?" He asked in a rather suggestive tone.

"Nothing" Shinji's tone was cold,not an excuse merely the reality of the situation. "Just thinking."

"You were looking at Ayanami right?" Kensuke said as he wiggled his eyebrows.

"No." Was his simple,short reply, he hoped that would put the whole matter to rest,but of course it didn't,things just couldn't go right for him now could they?So instead Kensuke continued pushing.

"Come on,you think I'm stupid?"Kensuke said.

"Ayanami's boobs."Toji started. Were not actually that impressive,they were, all things considered,normally sized,not that it was bad or anything it simply a fact.

"Ayanami's thighs"Toji contined much to Shinji's displeasure,he never understood his 2 friends attraction to thighs and even so that was not their Weirdest fetish,that would probably be...

"AYANAMI'S CALVES?!"They both shouted in unison. That,that would be their weirdest fetish,their weird _thing_ with calves .Seriously what in the fuck was so great about a woman's calves?they talked about them all the time. It was sorta creepy to Shinji and he piloted a cybernetic God made out of the mother of all mankind with his dead mother's soul inside it.

"No...its just,she seems alone I suppose?"She looked like she lived in her own self-contained bubble,separate from the outside world as if reality didn't exist for her outside that bubble,she simply went trough the motions of living. No,not living,surviving,she ate she slept she went to the bathroom,she did tests at NERV she checked in with the commander for orders,yes she did anything _BUT_ live. He decided he would help her live a little. As such he got up and headed towards the boy's locker room. There he looked through his phone's contacts until he saw the one that read 'Bastard.' and called it.

"This better be important Third,i am currently occupied." His father was currently in business bad for him that Shinji was not in 'be a bitch and obey' mode.

"Go fuck yourself." That little code phrase he'd made up would likely always piss off his father and that was enough to make him smile.

"What do you want Shinji?" His father had drooped the act and now showed his full annoyance at having been interrupted in the middle of work,not that Shinji cared much if his father was annoyed, He enjoyed it actually.

"Can I borrow your favorite toy,she's totally miserable." _wha?why would he want anything to do with Ritsu-Oh,he was probably talking about Rei._ Gendo thought as he went through his share of the paperwork _  
_  
"Do anything stupid and I castrate you"Was Gendo's reply before hanging up the phone. The fact his father would probably actually do something like that if he hurt Rei kinda scarred him,Good for him then that he had no such intentions. _Well,i suppose that's one more goal to add to my list,Make Ayanami happy,after all what kind of 'brother' would i be if i didn't._ He smiled,perhaps he wouldn't be so friendless after all...

 **…**

* * *

Shinji disliked the smell of blood,that was a pretty normal thing for someone to dislike,after all smelling blood did not normally mean good things had happened,however when one's job is being submerged in a titan's blood it was rather inconvenient to dislike the taste and smell of blood. And his mind was wondering off again during a test,that was usual for him,he'd often loose focus which would drop his points a little but he could gain them back easily so he didn't bother to always keep his focus. Thankfully Unit-00 hadn't gone berserk again which meant he didn't have to fight,even if temporarily,another Eva.

He watched with mild interest as Rei hopped off her entry plug and in front of the commander where she almost seemed like a normal girl,she laughed she smiled she even spoke back in what he at least assumed were not overly formal one-liners,he hoped on day he could reach that level with the girl,they were after all related which meant it should be easy to approach her,or it would be if she wasn't so...well _Rei_.

…

* * *

Shinji was pretty sure he had just walked into a god damned ghetto,seriously this place looked like it had been nuked,N2 mined and then stomped by an angel, it was a dump. He had not expected Rei to be well at y'know _living_ but this was ridiculous!He was pretty much steeping in trash as he walked inside. Fucking hell on earth that place felt like.

He walked Inside what he assumed at least was Rei's room. _Why are those bandages still here?She should have thrown them out ages ago._ He had to control himself to make sure he didn't start sub-consciously cleaning the entire dammed neighborhood.

A piece of glass catches his view. _some glasses?Wait aren't these?_

"Father's?" He finished out loud. He puts them on,they do help his vision somewhat,perhaps he needed some?He would look into that later with . Not like he minded wearing glasses,and father did have some good sense of style when it came to eyesight he would buy the same brand if he did need them?How much would that cost?He did get a pretty good wage.

He turned around and there she was,Rei Ayanami herself,perhaps he should be flustered by the fact she was naked?He didn't really care thought,weird. She took a few hurried steps towards him,she was pissed,he _knew_ that look,it was his mother's look when she was pissed but didn't want to show it .She'd died when he was 5,how did he remember this again _?Questions for when Ayanami is not trying to murder me and SHIT I FELL. And am now right on top of her,and groping her,wait am I in a Mecha harem anime or something,cause this shit doesn't happen in real life!_

"will you get off?"There was a slight tone of annoyance beneath her clam demeanor.

"Noooo,i was planning on staying here for the day."Shinji replied sarcastically as he got up and looked away.

"I do not believe you have come here to make sarcastic remarks pilot Ikari,what is it you want?"Right now he'd say for the last 5 minutes to be a dream.

"Card,i was asked to deliver your card,its just been renewed." He sated as he attempted to put his eyes anywhere but his naked _sister's_ back. "Ritsuko forgot to deliver it so she gave it me,lazy on her part if I do say so my sel-" And she'd left. He chased after but didn't try to start conversation,that would simply make things _more_ awkward than they already were. They were both headed in the same direction,which didn't help.

They arrived at NERV-Headquarters,Rei attempted to swipe her card through the checkpoint entrance only for it to be rejected. Shinji swiped her new card through the checkpoint himself.

"Your new card,if you had listened to me in the apartment this wouldn't have happened."He was in a particular bad mood because of not only her reaction early but also Misato's Shit cooking,she did _not_ help when she ripped the card of his hand. He sighed,why was she attempting to escape him,they were both headed the same way.

"Aren't you afraid of piloting?" He knew the answer to the question yet he still wanted to hear her piloting philosophy,his was 'Not for myself but for others'.

"Why?" The way she structured the question made it seem as if it was something natural to pilot,as if it something everyone did and that there was no reason to be afraid.

"Weren't you the one who was badly injured in the last test?"It was a rhetorical question,to make her see why it would be _normal_ for her to be afraid.

"Aren't you commander Ikari's son?"She asked,he wondered where her reasoning was headed. He nodded in response.

"Don't you have faith in your father's work?" He did,he had faith in his _father's_ work but he had no faith in the Evangelions themselves,well except for his own unit.

"Of course I do,i just don't have faith in the Evangelion's themselves"He answered,Rei choose to stay silent for the rest of the trip towards their changing rooms.

…

* * *

Gendo looked at the now activate unit-00 and thought of deploying it against the incoming angel. No,Rei had a lower Synch ratio than the third and a much more unreliable unit,they would be stuck with Shinji and unit-01 once again.

"Rei,your test was a success,you may return now."Gendo was nervous about the battle,sending Unit-01 out alone was always a risk to his scenario and he _hated_ taking risks almost as much as he hated hospitals. The thought of the accursed buildings did nothing but deepen his unease about the coming battle.

 **…**

* * *

Shinji was actually kind of pumped for the battle,he was pretty pissed off today and shooting something at that moment would feel fucking did see Ayanami watch him prepare for battle In one the catwalks,he gave her a thumbs up,thought she couldn't see it.

"Primary lock release confirmed,Unit-01 is ready for launch on my part." He said as he checked over everything one last time,Synchro started,check. Cable,check. Primary restraints off,check. All that was missing were the secondary and launch restraints and he was good to battle whatever he found up there.

"Launch!"He heard Misato say a few minutes after he finished his own mental checklist. All he felt from that moment onward was nausea at being sent upwards at stupidly high speeds.

"Dodge!"Was the last thing he could hear before he failed to do exactly that and a lance of pure unadulterated unrefined pain hit his chest. All he heard from that moment onward were his own screams and the blaring of alarms as the Eva's chest piece was melted into goo.

…

* * *

The 1/1 Scaled Fake Eva-01 balloon moved forward slowly yet steadily and raised its equally fake pistol up. Only to be blasted with the angel's beam.

"Enemy accelerated beam cannon has hit the balloon,Decoy vaporized."Informed one of the bridge bunnies. That balloon had actually taken quite a bit of time to make and if they ever needed it again it would be a pain in the ass to arrange.

"Send out the automatic cannon."Misato ordered as she watched the screen intently. The cannon let off a powerful shoot but was blocked by the Angel's AT field and then pulverized.

"Type-12-B Mortar-cannon destroyed."The poor cannon had gotten way over killed,the explosion being some 5 or 6 times the cannon's own size. While the cannon had failed at killing the enemy it had given them important data to work with.

"From the dare we've collected we can assume the target can destroy anything within a certain radius,its shown capability of melting even through the strongest of metals."That proved to be a problem,if the angel could engage any enemy in such a large range that left them with little options but to try and breach its AT field form afar and that was an incredibly difficult affair to pull off.

"At field status?" Misato same bridge bunny as before continued "Strong enough to repel any attack,its making visible spatial changes in 've attempted everything from artillery,bombs,aircraf,guided missiles, .nothing is breaching its field ma'am"

"What about the drill?"Misato asked in a concerned tone,that thing was proving more powerful than anything they had faced before and Shinji was still in the hospital. _Damn,this is a real issue_!

"Its drilling directly above us and will breach all 21 of NERV's armor layers in less then 10 hours."That meant that they had at least Some time.

"what about the evangelion units?"

"Unit 00 is still not cleared for combat,unit 1 suffered damage in all armor plates before being retrieved. Replacement should take a maximum of 3 hours and minimum of 2."Ritsuko explained as she watched a melted off armor plate of Unit-01 pass by.

"What about its pilot?"Misato asked nervously.

"He has suffered minor burns but is otherwise stable,he'll live." The question was if he would pilot after that. The last time he had felt extreme pain he'd nearly left NERV,and by his screams at least this seemed much worse,and if Shinji didn't pilot. _we're all doomed._ Misato thought.

"Perhaps its time we surrender." While Misato did indeed think they had very small odds of survival she was not ready to surrender quite yet,she had a plan. now to have the commander approve it.

…

* * *

 _Am I dead?is this the afterlife? why does it look so much like a NERV hospital?Is there bread in heaven?_ Shinji noticed someone had entered his hospital room,he shifted his eyes in their general direction.

"Ayanami?" He was curious as to why the girl had come to visit him,as far as he knew she didn't really like him after what had happened at her department. Perhaps she'd come to apologize?That was highly unlikely but a nice thought none the less.

Now he just needed his head to stop feeling like it had been hit repeatedly by a train.

"I'm here to inform you on the operation Yashima timetable,it shall begin at midnigth,00:00 hours." _thanks Ayanami,just one question,WHAT IN THE FUCK IS OPERATION YASHIMA?!_ "Pilots Ikari and Ayanami are to arrive by the cage at 17:30" _I was also under the impression your unit was not cleared for combat,the fuck is going on!?_ "At 18:00 ,both units shall activate." _was I in a months long coma only to wake up to a battle or something?!Explain anything please._ "The 2 units will then arrive at the temporary base at mount Futago at 18:30,there the 2 units are to await further orders"She then threw a plastic bag with a plugsuit inside it at his bed. "Your new suit."

 **...**

* * *

"This thing wasn't exactly built for field operation,are you sure it'll work?"Shinji was indeed somewhat skeptical of the giant rifle in front of him.

"There is no other choice if it fails then so be it, we must try nonetheless" Ritsuko responded,So she and all of NERV were putting the fate of the entire world on something that might not even work? _wonderful,just fucking perfect._

"Great..."He turned towards Misato hoping that she would say anything to ease his worry over the fact that they were about to use an untested weapon as their last resort.

"Shinji.." Misato turned to look at Shinji,he simply lifted his head to meet her eyes,the light behind them illuminating her body. "Your unit will be in gunner position." _at least I get to shoot it._ And while that did ease Shinji's worries somewhat,he was quite proud of his accuracy after all,he was still worried about the probability of success, _8.7%_ the magi predicted.

"I'll try not to disappoint." And while Shinji had meant that in a more comedic way his worry had come across in his voice. _Suppose training can't really stop you from worrying when the chips are down._

"Rei you will cover on unit-00" The fact that unit-00 was also out on the battlefield was a really bad sign too,it meant they were desperate enough to use a unit that had not been cleared for combat yet. Shinji hoped they wouldn't need unit 00. And he did have on more worry..

"What happens if I miss?"Shinji wasn't planning on missing,but if he did he wanted to now the consequences.

"Don't think like that,you must kill it in the first shoot" The fact she refused to answer most likely meant he would die if he missed the shoot,that only worsened Shinji's anxiety about the coming battle.

"Its time,get geared up"Misato ordered,and both the pilots went to do so.

A few Minutes later Shinji was already on his own plugsuit and looking down at the ground. Ayanami had seemed completely calm about the entire situation,it was odd to say the least if he of all people was worried he expected Ayanami to at least show some emotion,but she didn't care about death,not like he did. _I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing..._

"You know,this could be your last die alive."Shinji Threw the comment into the air,if he kept his mask up he wouldn't break under the stress.

"Why do you say that?Would it not be likely for you to perish as well?" Rei found that to be out of character for the boy,he would often make witty and arrogant comments yes but never to the point of being insulting to anyone and much less in this kind of situation.

 ** _Could it be that pilot Ikari is worried?_**

 **"Hey I'm just being realistic .I am the best ratio pilot after all," Shinji managed to make it sound like his witty,arrogant self. But in reality he was extremely worried about the possibility of death.**

 ** **…****

* * *

 **Japan as seen from space at that moment would seem uninhabited,its surface dotted in not a single light as its immense power output was put into a single weapon,a weapon that was in Shinji Ikari's hands.**

 **He sighed as he laid down on the catwalk,his Evangelion's form merely a few meters to his moment of truth would be soon,the rifle was charged and ready to fire and Unit-01 was also prepared for battle.**

 **As he thought back on his life shinji realized he had not lived much until he came to Tokyo-3,sure he had friends before but they never lasted,training had always come first until he arrived on had lived most of his life either in training or school. He thought back to the other day,the day in which he had run away from his and Misato's apartment so he could figure out his reason for piloting. What was Rei's reason he wondered.**

"Why do you pilot?" His question was soft unsure as if he didn't really mean to make it, he didn't even take his eyes off the sky as he said it. Rei thought for a moment before lifting her head and answering.

"Because I'm bonded to it." Bonded?Of course Shinji knew of Rei's true nature but he did wonder just what she meant by Bonded.

"Bonded?"He continued to look up as he made the question,he counted the stars in the sky,he had done that since he was a child. One of the only real hobbies he'd picked up.

"Yes,its a bond"

"To father?"

"To all people

 ** _" Through Lilith?_** **Shinji found it odd for her to think as such,she did not hold a stronger bond to all of humanity,or more specifically Lilin kind,simply by her blood. She was no more or less human than he was simply because of what she was. He then fell down on his back and started laughing Which gained Ayanami's attention quite quickly and a confused look.**

"Your really weird you know that Ayanami?"He said as he got up and stretched his arms out. "Lets go kill this thing and go home shall we?"Shinji now had a smile on his face his worries lessened if only for that moment.

"Goodbye pilot Ikari" Rei said with a fain tone of sadness as she prepared to enter her evangelion.

 ** **…****

* * *

 **Shinji was as ready as he would ever be,and all things considered rather hopeful. He believed in his abilities as a marksman,he'd trained his entire life for moments like these,in which humanity's hope lay on his shoulders.** ** _No pressure. Just pull the trigger and fire enough energy to pulverize a city into the damned thing,simple as that._**

The countdown begun,his breathing accelerated slightly,his hands twitched,he gripped the controls harder than he ever had in his life.

….

 ** **7**** **...**

He could still recall the pain he'd felt when he was first deployed against this thing,he felt as if his own flesh was melting while being pricked by a thousand needles,but he couldn't think about it,not now.

 ** _They believe in me so I should believe in me right?_** **He blinked hard and tried to control his breathing.**

….

 ** **5**** **...**

Only a few more seconds and he'd deliver more destructive power than a Nuclear bomb could,all in a neat little blue,at least he assumed it would be blue,beam.

 ** _Breathe in,breath out._**

 **….** ** **3**** **...**

Shinji could hear the Crew speak about something,he didn't know what,all he could hear was his own breathing in the LCL as he prepared to fire. His hand twitched once more,3 more seconds and he would fire,only 3 more seconds.

….

 ** **1**** **...**

He heard shouting from the intercom,perhaps they had told him to hold fire?Too late now,Shinji couldn't hear them even if they had. His mental countdown reaches pulls the trigger. He sees a flash of White and Purple,the Sky is filled with color for but a moment,in the next Shinji can feel the Eva's Entry plug shake violently.

 ** _I missed..._** **He saw the explosion in the distance,far off from his target,he had missed. He was dead,he didn't know why that thought was so melancholic,perhaps it was because it would all end soon and he found no will to be terrified any more?Perhaps it was simply because he couldn't process the information correctly,he was going to** ** _ **DIE**_** **.And so would Misato and his father and Aynami...**

He found it almost funny really,that at that moment he was more worried about the lives of Misato Katsuragi Rei Ayanami and Gendo Ikari than his own,perhaps because he found little worth in it. He sees the lance of light belonging to the angel come for him,he does not close his eyes,no,he would face death with open arms.

 **Even so he braces for pain,but It never comes,instead he sees the back of unit-00 as it defends him from the massive shoot.**

"Ayanami..." He said in but a whisper,before he could even process the fact a beam was headed directly towards him she had jumped in the line of fire to save him. Even with the light partially blinding him he could see the Heat Shield of the unit melt into goo. The magi would take too long to adjust the aim.

 ** _This is so stupid._** **Shinji manually aimed the rifle,quite arrogant of him to think of his aim as superior to that of a super computer,but at that moment he didn't care. He raised the rifle ever so slightly and pulled the trigger. White light filled the sky and pierced through the angel,a shower of flame coming from both sides of where it was hit,its massive form crashes into the city.**

"Ayanami!" He rushes his Eva to that of Ayanami's and rips part of its armor off,the entry plug extending out of Unit-00's back and spraying its LCL out.

Shinji rushes out of his own unit and pulls her hatch open burning his hands rather badly in the process.

 ** _Great one more thing to be similar to father about._** **Was something he would think of later,at that moment he was far too worried to care.**

"AYANAMI!ARE YOU ALRIGHT" No response "REI!" she shifted her weight slightly and opened her eyes,Shinji sighed in relief.

"Never do that goodbye before a mission."He cleans his eyes.

 ** _I'm crying now great._** **"It just invites trouble." He started sobbing as tears fell down his face. The whole day had been far too stressful for him,he didn't think he could take it if he had also caused Ayanami's death,he would make her see she wasn't replaceable,even if it cost him his life.**

"I apologize pilot ikari,i dont know how to feel or act in a moment like this." In response Shinji let out a small laugh in between sobs and pat her on the head.A gesture which felt oddly comforting and soothing to Rei.

"How about you smile for a start." And so for the first time in her life Rei Ayanami smiled at someone that wasn't the commander.

 **…**

* * *

 **Shinji waited silently in the grave-yard,he, unlike most people was not scared of walking through a grave-yard at night,fighting monsters the size of skyscrapers made you much less worried about silly superstitions like ghosts and spirits.**

He wondered how many of the Graves were empty like the one directly in front of him.

 ** **Ikari Yui****

 ** **1977-2004****

He couldn't read the words in the darkness but he knew them well,he was standing before his mother's grave,why in the middle of the night and on that day in particular?His father had called for a non-official meeting with him,as far as everyone was aware he was still home sleeping his worries away.

"I see you've come." His fathers voice came from behind him.

"I never miss these little bonding times of ours now do I?It insults me you'd think I would."Shinji said with no small amount of sarcasm in his voice.

"This is important." The fact his father had not graced his taunt with a response meant it was indeed rather important. His father passed him a couple of files,none of which he could read in the darkness.

"What do these say?"They were likely nothing about the instrumentality project or about their scenario,if that was the case his father wouldn't have given him paper files.

"Information on the fourth and fifth children."That peeked Shinji's interest, due to the fact that the

 **Marduk institute was a farce it meant that his father thought they might need spare pilots and/or units in the future.**

"You don't think Rei and I can make the cut?" That was a genuine question he had,why his father would choose someone untrained was beyond him,he would have known if there was a third pilot in the Lazarus project,there was meant however he had chosen had 0 training.

"A precaution,their names however might be familiar to you. Third child,Toji Suzuhara and fourth child Kensuke Aida." Shinji's eyes widened,he clenched his fists in anger. If he didn't respect his father as much as he did the man would probably have a black eye right about now.`

"Why th-No..." He Cut himself off from going on a rant. "You know what,i trust you have a reason for this." His father merely nodded,its likely he wouldn't say anything else if pushed.

 ** _Great,keeping secrets again._** **"Can I at least tell them myself?" He Father must have expected that reaction for he grinned.**

"You will be not only be informing them yourself,you will train them to the best of your ability,you are free to disclose limited information about the Lazarus project." Shinji Sighed,that made him at least a bit more confident in their chances of survival,he reckoned he had some 3-5 months before their units arrived

 **,he would make those months painful for the 2,but it would be for their own good.** ** _Let's hope we never need to actually send them out to real combat shall we?_**

 ** **…****

* * *

 ** **This chapter was wayyyyyy longer than I initially intended it to next chapter will be the first one not to be based on any episode of the series,so it will likely be much more flawed than the rest,however i'll do my ,this chapter's original name was 'the mysterious case of Rei Ayanami' but since i decided to put most of episode 6 in as well i renamed it to REImiel****


	6. Chapter 6-NERV Assault

**And off we go to the sixth chapter- _NERV Assault .  
_ Now i was not sure if i should put this before or after the Jet alone chapter but decided on putting it before so i could get straight to writing Asuka's debut after it.**

…

* * *

 **NERV-Headquarters**

 **400 meters below terminal dogma.  
Final Dogma.  
**

"Welcome the Lazarus Lab pilot Ikari"

He kept walking,the only sound the clicking of his own feet on the ground, as he passes the tanks of LCL he doesn't bother to even look at the cloned bodies in them. he continues forward until reaching his destination,the whistling sound of the doors opening reach his ears as he heads even further down. He continues his path down the stairs until he eventually reaches yet another locked door,a swipe of his key card soon opens it.

He walks into the empty control room,the figure stands merely a few meters in front him,the thin pane of glass the only thing between the boy and the creature before him. Its eyes focus on him,it's likely that if it had arms or legs it would attack him. It is the boy's first time looking at it with his own 2 eyes,even without its arms or leg it stands taller than any evangelion,its armor covering only its chest and even then its core was still exposed. It attempts to move against its restraints,the metal bolting its mouth shut creaking under the pressure until the bolts fly off revealing its full, teethed mouth as It growls at him,he does not move,instead he continues staring it down. The beast does the same,they both knew it was not its day yet,but the boy had come either way.

"One day you will understand dreize."This time its eyes Close slightly as it roars,shaking the room slightly with its sheer fury. It moves its head wildly against the restraints in a feeble attempt to break puts his hand on the pane of glass. _one day...but not yet,for first the children of god must fall._

 **...**

* * *

Shinji was late for class by about 5ish minutes as a consequence of having to come all the way from Final Dogma to his school he still disagreed with his father's point that they needed extra pilots,both units 3 and 4 were months from completion not to say the pilots themselves were completely in-experienced when it came to piloting or even basic military doctrine,save for Kensuke perhaps who was a total military nerd.

"I apologize for my tardiness." And while he does receive a glare from Horaki the teacher himself seemed far too busy talking about pre-impact japan to care about his late arrival. _typical of the old fool._

As he sat down he messaged both Toji and Kensuke telling them to meet him at the school's running track. the rest of the lesson went on as usual with the teacher spouting out bullshit about second impact that didn't even come close to accurate.

Later.

"Hey,Shin-man what's up?" Toji was curious as to why the boy had called them here,it was not usual for Shinji to do anything but head straight home after class,either that or head to NERV-HQ.

"Say,if I were to say you had been chosen by NERV as evangelion pilots how would you react?" _Genius way to make the subject come up normally,retard._

"Your kidding me!"

"No way!us... as pilots,of course we'd accept!" Kensuke said with the widest grin on his looked at them for a few moments with a heavy look on his face before turning his face to the ground and laughing.

"There's really no point with you two is there?" He said as he looked at them with a smile on his face,he'd expected them to at least ask if he was pulling a prank or why they had been chosen out of everyone. _I suppose if they are this happy i'll just have to make sure they are ready to face the enemy when it comes._ "Very well..." Shinji clenched his fist and punched toji in the jaw,the boy fell to the ground with a thud before looking at Shinji with a confused expression on his face.

"Piloting lesson number the Run 30 laps" There wasn't a hint of humor in his voice as he ordered them to do so,yet they desperately wished he was had just come back from PE class and were already sweaty and as Shinji's Facial expression didn't even change my a single millimeter and his gaze locked unto them they groaned and began running.

"Piloting lesson number 2,Piloting isn't fun,expect to spend the next months in absolute exhaustion." They continued running as sweat ran down their face,Shinji barked orders and made snarky comments all while they did so.

…

* * *

"Keep moving" Shinji ordered as they ran their 50 lap,their muscles were aching,Toji was panting while Kensuke looked like he was about to pass out at any moment. The young and rather frail looking young man had absolutely changed personality once he started training them,giving them not a moment of rest as he made them run lap after lap,by now the sky was starting to darken and the school would have been longed closed if not for Section 2's interference.

"That's enough."Both boys cried in relief as they collapsed on the ground in front of Shinji,he looked at looked miserable, a side effect of his training but they would have to deal with if they wanted to live.

"Now,get up and punch me with all your strength, I promise I wont move."Shinji said as he helped Toji up,the boy for his part simply looked at Shinji,he wasn't sure if Shinji was serious or if he was gonna give yet another piloting lesson.

"Ya serious man?"Toji asked,he didn't really feel like punching his friend for no reason grinned before he spoke.

"I swear on my honor I wont do anything crazy,just punch me as hard you can in the jaw,we'll be even then,right?" Toji clenched his fist and swung it at Shinji,who caught it,spun his arm around and pinned Toji to the ground in less than 3 seconds  
"Piloting lesson number 3,Honor means shit in this world,its do or die."He let go of toji who dusted himself off after a few moments and then suddenly spun around with a punch that Shinji barely managed to block,mostly due to the surprise.

"Your getting better at this"Shinji says as a smile grows on his then punches Toji in the gut before spinning around to kick Toji's lower back. "But you've got a long way to go" he helped Toji up once more and they began fighting once again,this time it took Shinji 3 hits to bring toji down. They continued until Toji could block at very least a single one of Shinji's attacks,Kensuke did even worst,being less physically fit then either of his 2 other friends.

Shinji and the 2 would stay there until 3 AM,when both managed to at least hit Shinji without being immediately thrown down.

"Good job,get some rest,you'll need it,I'll be coming by your houses tomorrow morning to pick you up and take you to NERV,don't worry I've already told both Horaki and the teachers."The 2 then asked him why he had told them so if he had not known their answer as to if they would pilot or not,Shinji simply replied with 'just had a hunch you'd say yes.'

…

* * *

Shinji Knocked on Toji's door,his father came out a few moments later with a mean-looking scowl on his face,he felt like he had seen the man before at NERV,then again that wasn't unlikely,most people in class 2-A had relatives that either currently worked or had worked with NERV.A deliberate decision to make potential pilots more easily accessible.

"Your the one who made my son become a pilot for those things aren't you?" The man didn't even try to conceal his hatred,then again loosing one's wife to an Evangelion would make one understandably weary of them.

"Yes." Shinji's reply was short and to the point,he had no need to prove himself to this man,he could not choose Toji's fate if he wanted to keep his job and that was something they both knew quite well.

"He is waiting in his room..." Before the man turned around however Shinji handed him a few files,he then walked past the wide-eyed man and walked knocked on the door to what he assumed at least was Toji's room.

"Come in pops...Oh!its you." He seemed happy that it had not been his father,the man had probably been just as pissed at Toji for accepting Shinji's offer as he had been at Shinji for making it.

"Your old man didn't exactly like the news I'm guessing?" Toji simply nodded,Shinji understood the man,he was after all also worried about his friend's safety but in the end he knew it would be better if it had been him making that offer and training them than some random NERV mook.

"Don't worry 'bout it" Toji said with a grin as he put his arm around Shinji's neck,making the smaller boy falter a bit with his friend's weight. "Ya got kensuke already?" Shinji shook his head.

"I had Ayanami pick him up,she didn't complain but I'm pretty sure she tried to murder me with her eyes." Rei disliked social interaction which of course meant Shinji had to force her to be at the very least polite if nothing else. In this case he would have her pick Kensuke up at his house so he wouldn't be late to reach NERV. As to why he'd chosen to pick Toji up instead of kensuke it was due to the simple fact he lived closer to Toji,and no at _all because_ Kensuke would have spent their entire voyage to NERV asking him about the Evangelions and his unit,not at all.

The car was about to reach the elevator that would lead them to the Geo-front proper,Shinji for his part was listening to his SDAT,something which had become increasingly rare for him to do because of his time constraints,said constraints would only get worse with the added job of training the 2 newest pilots in everything from proper weapon usage to how Evangelions pilot to even how to deal with their new co-workers at in all the next few months were about to be pretty exhausting for Shinji on a mental and physical level.

"Wow!its huge down here man,its gotta be bigger than even the entire city!"Toji exclaimed as they left the tunnel and entered the Geo-front proper,he simply smiled,he had a similar reaction to his first time in the Geo-front.

"Hey Shin-man,whats that weird goo?" Shinji gave Toji a confused look before looking in the same direction he be told there was indeed a pool of white goo dripping from one of the open holes in the Geo-fronts ceiling(Curtsy of Ramiel),Shinji watched in awe and shock as it reformed itself into a roughly humanoid shape.

"SHIT!"He quickly grabbed his phone as Toji looked at him with a worried expression in his face.

He tried to call the NERV emergency line to no avail,it seemed whatever the angel had done cut off communications Shinji sighed as he hoped they would make it into the headquarters in for his part merely shrunk in his seat and thought that perhaps being a pilot was actually a terrible idea.

 **…**

* * *

Shinji's feet pounded the concrete floor of the base as he rushed to the cages,alarms blared and people ran all about, _the next attack wasn't supposed to come so soon!_ His feet were starting to hurt as he continued his rush towards the evangelion cages, if he was too slow all of humanity could be doomed,he hear the building shake,an evangelion deployment for sure,that meant Rei was out there, sped up his pace.

A few seconds of running later and he reaches the Eva cages,his eyes widen as he looks at the empty cage that was supposed to hold unit-01. _They must have sent Rei out in it..._ either that or Kensuke,and seeing as the boy had 7% probability of actually Synching with it he felt like that was unlikely. _  
_ _  
_He looked to the Eva cage to his left,if Rei had taken unit 1 that meant unit 0 was still available for piloting. which meant he could still help.

He turned to the other cage,and toward it could die,the unit could reject him and go berserk had all the reasons to do so,but then again it had accepted Rei II ,at least it would accept him as well.

He looked at the recently repaired unit,save for a color change and the addition of Shoulder pylons the unit had not changed much since its battle with Ramiel a mere 4 weeks prior,he manually activated the Eva,he could use the communications system to have the Eva launched when he was inside,if they refused to do so he could simply rip his way to the Geo-front's surface.

He quickly went through the steps of manual activation and awaited to see if the unit would go sighed in relief when instead he could feel the unit activate,and while it did not give off the same warm feeling his own unit did,its cold indifference made him feel oddly at didn't care as much as unit 1,all it cared for was its eventual end,until then it would serve NERV if it had that assured him it would at least not go berserk mid battle.

"Shinji?Thank god your here!" Shinji was confused,he expected her to at least ask why he had chosen to get into unit-00 without orders to do so,or to try and convince him not to go out on a unit he could barely meant 1 of 2 things,

1)Unit-01getting absolutely destroyed up there.

2)They expected this out of him.

Both weren't exactly great but he couldn't complain that if made his life easier.

"What is my ratio looking like?" Shinji felt the unit move as it was sent to the launch catapults.

"23%" Shinji cringed as he heard the number,he expected a low score on a unit so foreign to him,but still 23 was just sad when compared to his low seventies to high sixties in unit-01.

"Not great but I'll make do"He said as the unit finally locked itself into place in the launch bay.

"That's the spirit,EVA LAUNCH!" Shinji made sure he didn't puke out his breakfast's contents into the LCL,that would not be beneficial for his piloting ability,since he wasn't going to the surface the painful voyage was a few seconds shorter. Which was somehow worse.

As his temporary unit came to a stop and the launch restraints released he saw the angel and unit-01 in the distance locked In battle,unit-01 was armed with nothing but a rifle that seemed to have no effect on the angel,its shoots simply being absorbed by its body and more than likely destroyed.

"We're sending you unit-00's sniper rifle hang on a second."Soon there was indeed a small ping as the weapon was sent up through a nearby weapon's cache.  
Unit-00 picked it up and Shinji looked down its scope,the Eva following his commands.

Aimed,ready,shoot.

A tank sized dart leaves the weapon at mach 7.  
Hit,no pulls the trigger once again,this time aimed at its arms,miss.11 rounds left.  
The enemy extends its arms outward towards unit-01 stretching unnaturally in an attempt to grab its enemy,the unit jumps back.

Shinji steadies his breathing and takes another shoot,this time aimed at its dart hits it's AT Field.10 rounds turns towards him,unit-01's rifle fire subsides as it runs out of retreats into a weapon's cache to grab angel approaches him ever so slowly,he pulls the trigger,another dart impacts its AT field,Another shoot,same result, _what was that they said about insanity?_ Shinji thinks before dodging the enemies' now outstretched arm while firing his sniper rifle at it blindly,it misses by a long shoot hitting the Geo-front's ceiling above.

Unit-01 Continues firing its Pallet gun at the target to no effect,Shinji dodges as the enemy grows another pair of limbs and shoots them outwards toward him,this time with much greater hit his leg as the unit attempts to dodge once unit's armor corrodes in the point of impact and Shinji hisses in pain,he had however managed not to get caught by its arm.

Unit-01 rushes at the angel with its progressive Knife in hand,the angel extends its one free arm,pinning Rei and unit-01 to the wall as it does so,it leaves part of its mass behind,locking unit-01 in place at the Geo-front's armor underneath the odd acid goo melts into its armor plating as Unit-01 tries to struggle free.

Unit-00 ditches it rifle and runs in the opposite direction. _I have plan._

"Send me the glaive up now!"The crew ask among themselves if what they had heard is right before Misato speaks up about what everyone else was thinking.

"Shinji,the Sonic Glaive is still in its testing phase,it's still exploding upon initial activation."Shinji Smirks. "I know,that's what I'm counting on."The lack of any other plans by the NERV crew left them no choice but to do what Shinji had commanded Unit-00 stops for a few seconds to grab the glaive at a weapon's cache before taking off in a sprint again,angel hot on it's tail.

The angel believed him to be running away and that was exactly what Shinji wanted it to believe,he continued running until he reached the geo-front's wall there he jumped and using the wall as a platform he quickly turns around and activates the spear while ramming it into the angel's throat region,it attempts to pry it off only for the part it grabs onto to melt away,it gives off a low shriek before it's faceless head explodes with the glaive,the core at it's head being taken down with it.

…

* * *

 ****  
Toji waited outside Ayanami's hospital room ,Shinji sitting beside him as they waited for news on the girl,She had suffered serious damage in the last battle when part of the acid manage to find its way past the plating and into the top of her Plug.

Kensuke had been even more worried about the girl than Shinji after seeing her leave her plug,Toji expected she would be spending a few more weeks in had left as soon as he heard she was stable,he'd merely told them it was important before rushing off. _The hell's so important?!Ayanami nearly died and yer probably going off to see some cool warship passing by._ Toji loved Kensuke like a brother but he admitted his friend's priorities where often odd to say the least and stupid to say the most.

"She's been cleared for visitation by family members and NERV High Ikari,your father cleared you for visitation as well." Shinji nooded as he got up before looking back towards Toji.

"You'll be alright in here for a while or need me to baby sit you?"Toji laughed,he knew his friend didn't mean to come of as aggressive or mean-spirited but he often did when under pressure and/or worry.

"Sure man,make sure to say high to your girlfriend for me."Shinji frowned and shaked his head as he walked into the room,Toji however did not miss the small smile on Shinji's lips after the comment.

…

* * *

Shinji wouldn't lie to himself in saying his friend's teasing hadn't helped him ease up a little he thought about thanking the boy later but soon came to the conclusion Toji didn't need Shinji to thank him,he simply knew it had helped because they were friends and more recently partners.

"Hello Ayanami,Do you mind if I call you Rei?" The girl shakes her head slightly as Shinji sits down next to her bed. "Then how are you Rei?"

"My injuries are minor however I will be unable to pilot for an extended period of time."Shinji sighed,he hadn't asked her how her injuries were,he had asked her how she was.  
"You really don't change do you Rei?"She looks confused at his statement,he laughs and pats her in the head in much the same fashion as he had after the battle against Ramiel. "Don't worry about it."  
 **  
...**

* * *

 **And here it goes,the first fully original chapter that didn't follow one of the Anime's episodes.**

 **At first I was not so sure if I wanted to bring my own angels into the mix but after this chapter's results I'm pretty happy with how things went,and for you Asuka fans,do not fear for I' shall introduce her in either the chapter after the next or the one after that.  
Anyway if you could leave reviews it would be incredibly appreciated,even If you have something negative to say.**


	7. Chapter 7-A work of men

**And here comes jet alone in _A man made work._**

…

* * *

"Seriously I'm starting to think you have a drinking problem." Shinji counted the amount of time it took his guardian to start drinking a beer after she woke up.31 looked at him as if he'd insulted her entire bloodline and murdered her he sometimes did want to do.

"What are you talking about this is the best way to start a day!" He rolled his eyes,if they started their bickering about her possible alcoholism they would be at it all morning. "And you've got an addiction to coffee!"

"I do not" He takes a sip of his coffee filled irony of the situation at hand escaped him completely at the time.

"A traditional japanese breakfeast begins with rice,miso and sake"She emphasizes her point by leaning in towards him.

"Not all,just yours really"He shoots back with a sly grin on his face.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing at all,now I realize how your single and sexless at your age." He says with an intentional overly serious tone as he takes yet another sip of the burning hot liquid in his hands.

"Excuse me,are you saying I'm lazy and un-appealing?"He pretends to consider that for a second before replying within seconds

"That and sloopy too." She makes a light choking sound and Shinji gets up to clean the dishes.

"So your actually coming to that parent-teacher thing today?" he asked with mild interest as he cleaned another plate and put it aside,if he was being honest with himself he would _like_ her to come but that didn't mean he would force her to with the amount of work she already did at NERV, he had been joking when he called her lazy she certainly worked a lot more than him,in less stressful manners but more none the less.

"Of course,its my responsibility anyway." That 'anyway' changed the whole meaning of the phrase had it not been there Shinji would have perhaps thought she wouldn't go out of her own free will,but that single word conveyed the meaning it just an after thought to something she was planning on doing anyway.

A few Minutes later and his friend's were there,both looking incredibly excited at being there,thought not likely because of him, _they must think of mean as some kind of slave-driver with how hard I've been training them._

"Good morning Ikari!"Both say in unison before peeking inside. "We're taking off Misato!" They announced loudly Misato replied with a short 'take care' and a hand wave,they looked incredibly disappointed.

"Beat it you two!" They looked at him "Or I'll make you run 60!" They both rushed off In record speed after that.

…

* * *

Shinji watched with mild amusement and irritation as his classmates,and half the school drooled over Misato,but he could at least agree with them on the fact his guardian was indeed rather physically attractive, _too bad she lacks everything else thought_

"Its amazing someone so beautiful could be our operations director."Shinji gave him an unamused glare before answering with a 'is that so?'his friends then proceeded to mock him as if he wasn't there at all.

"I wish she were my girlfriend" Toji said wistfully as he clasped his hands and looked at the sky in happiness.

"She's more trouble than she's worth..."

"You don't get it do you big shot?" They both said at the same time before patting him in the back with excessive force "And we'll take care of misato!"

He looks at them for a few seconds before pulling their ears. "If you think im'a let you slack of to flirt with your superior your mistaken." Both replied with a short and pained 'yes sir!' 

…

* * *

Misato looked over the broken and battered remains of what used to be the city of Tokyo,to think that once lived millions in the now abandoned area was an odd thought indeed.

"Its still Hard to believe old Tokyo's gone."Misato had seen the city before.

"We're here."Misato looked over to the side,a facility in the middle of the ruins of Tokyo-1,quite the odd place to put it but it worked for their plan none the less. "Is the JSSDF Getting involved?"

"The Defense force?They are the ones backing it the most." The private company that developed and create Jet alone was only responsible for a minimal amount of the Machine's funding with the rest being donated by the JSSDF in return for the right to use it in combat against the angels. The rivalry between NERV and the JSSDF was already high before the angel attacks,with the regular forces being under the belief that NERV was incredibly over-funded,this rivalry only worsened when NERV technically stole the Positron sniper rifle from the JSSDF's R&D lab.

Soon they found themselves at their reserved the man began explaining what would be happening through the day and finally gave the guests the right to ask questions.

"Yes,the famous Doctor Ritsuko Akagi,its an honor to have you here."

"May I ask a question?"

"Of course."

"According to an earlier briefing the unit is equipped with an internal nuclear reactor correct?"The spokesperson nodded before answering the question.

"Indeed,its one of the products best functions,its capable of running for a minimum of 150 days and an expected maximum of 340"Those numbers were indeed impressive and gave the jet alone a much needed advantage when compared to the Evangelions,who could at max run for 5 Minutes On internal power battery and 45 If their shoulder Pylons were outfitted with mobile batteries. The shortest battle yet had,the one with Sachiel,had lasted 30 minutes,dangerously close to mobile power limit and far exceeding the internal power constraints.

"From a safety perspective is it not unsafe to incorporate a nuclear reactor on a hand to hand combat weapon?"The spokesperson smiled before responding.

"There are multiple safety mechanism in place to assure there are no accidents with the onboard reactor,not to say it surpasses the Evangelion's 5 minute power restraint."Ritsuko then latched on to another argument after her first one's failure.

"In an emergency there could be issues with remote control."

"Yes a good point. However that is why we have incorporated a manual piloting system along with that of the Remote controlled one."Ritsuko widened her eyes,the commander's plans could be at risk if the pilot could wrestle back control from the unit before Eva-01 had the chance to stop it.

 **…  
**

* * *

 ****The two NERV employees leaned against the wall as they waited for the test to start. The massive building covering the unit opens slowly yet surely revealing the gigantic form of Jet alone.

"Starting Jet Alone mark 1 activation yourselves comfortable gentleman your about to see the next step in mankind's weaponry.

"Begging test,Discharging core,activating cockpit safety mechanism,coolant circulation nominal. releasing control rods. Manual controls at effective has reached nominal output."

"Very well,Kirishima step forward."The machine does as its pilot orders,its shaky first Step very much resembling that of Eva-01.

"It walks,now that's something to be proud of!"Misato shot sarcastically.

"Odd,the pressure inside the reactor is increasing"One of the crew members notes.

"Kirishima,hold position."Shiro orders as the unit continues is advance.

"I Can't seem to stop the unit on my its not an issue on your side?"

"Shut off the power,emergency keep attempting to control the unit."

"The radio circuit is being blocked,Its out of control!"

The giant continues its advance steeping through the control center as it does so.

"Is everyone alright down there?" Kirishima asks over the communication's system only to get nothing in return.

Meanwhile Misato is getting herself up from the ground and dusting off her clothes.  
"Seems like this thing is as badly mannered as those who built it."  
"Impossible...The J.A's program is meant to work in any contingency and the pilot is supposed to be able to manually shut off the core in emergency,this can't happen!"

"Yet it could melt down at any moment"

"Our only hope is to wait for it to stop"yet waiting was out of the question if that thing kept up its pace it would kill its pilot not to say it was headed straight towards a major population center.

A few calls later and the codes for JA's system where yet to be given,but it continued its path towards Atsugi.

"Time is running will take responsibility for _your_ failure now."The tone in which she said it and the JSSDF's own unwillingness to shoot down their only asset against the angels left NERV to do the heavy lifting,as usual.

… ****

Shinji sighed,he would have to go against a piloted Jet alone,that wasn't supposed to happen!It was supposed to be a mere AI-controlled mechanical construct that would be destroyed by NERV and assure their continued funding by SEELE and the simply hoped he was fast enough to both stop it from exploding and saving its pilot,whomever he was.

"There's a danger of meltdown in five minutes,so we can't allow it to get any closer to a populated area."Shinji clenched his teeth in frustration,he had to do both those things in 5 minutes.

"Great..."He shoot sarcastically as Misato explained the rest of her was planning on going inside it.

"Are you mad?!"His sudden outburst surprised even Misato. "Its dangerous,have me go!"He demanded.

"That wont work and you know it Shinji,i've got to give this a shoot or i'll regret it for the rest of my life." Shinji looked away as she said that,he knew that feeling the feeling that made him stay a pilot even after the extreme pain of his first three battles.

"Then good luck out there."

A few seconds later Shinji found himself dropping from unit-01 with Misato in its hand,one of the advantages of a Nerve connecting system was that it allowed him to do things like grab a human without crushing them to death.

Unit-01 slowed its descent with its AT Field and ran towards jet alone,debris from long fallen buildings flying as its feet pounded the ground with great strength. Eventually it catches up to it and Shinji drops Misato off in its back before running in front of it and blocking its advance with the Eva's full body strength.

Steam started to pour out of hole after hole in the robot and now Shinji was more worried about Misato's own survival than that of the pilot or the city behind him.

"Come on,HURRY UP!"The steam continued pouring out,it was about to explode and Shinji knew it."MISATO!" he screams in desperation before the steam subsides and the massivev robot goes limp.  
"Misato,misato,are you alright?!"

"Yeah,not in my greatest shape thought."

Shinji then proceeded to cut into the prime's chest to remove the cockpit,thankfully the pilot had only suffered minor burns and would survive after some resting time.

…

* * *

 ****

"Father...i have a plan." Gendo Ikari smirked as he heard those words come through the phone,he loved the boy's plans,things often _didn't_ explode in contrary to popular opinion Gendo did not like unplanned ones anyways.

"I'm all ears..."

 **….  
**

* * *

 **This chapter is kind of painfully small when compared to the last but it there was not much to work with in the episode itself so I did my best whit what I had.**


	8. Chapter 8-Underwater extravaganza!

**The best angry german red head arrives by boat,kensuke has a nerd-gasm over the UN's fleet and Toji is called 'the shame of the pilot corps' all in Chapter 8-** **UNDER WATER EXTRAVAGANZA(WITH REDHEADS!).**

…

* * *

"The Mig-55 B transport helicopter,i never thought I would get to fly in one!"Shinji sighed as his friend continued on with his usual military nerdiness,Shinji had mostly gotten used to it by now and his friend had indeed attempted to become less vocal about his hobby so Shinji let this one slide,for now.

"It really is great having a friend like you Shinji!"Wait,had Kensuke forgotten he was here because he was a pilot? _If he's having memory issues with just flying he will have a stroke when he sees the fleet._ Shinji thought with a mental laugh.

"I thought you might have gotten bored with just simulations so I invited you all on a date."Toji was immediately the most excited about that while Shinji thought that it was simply an excuse to take them along so she wouldn't have to deal with the navy's usual bullshit alone.

As they approached the fleet proper Kensuke started having what could most accurately be described as a did agree however that the fleet was mighty impressive he could count at least 47 ships and there were likely many more underwater assets such as the Bismarck-class super submarine that had been borrowed from Germany.

As the Helicopter landed Kensuke started having an even bigger attack and started caressing multiple of the aircraft as if they were babies.

"So cool so cool SO AWESOME"Shinji rolled his eyes.

"Cut that out,we're not here to make love to the aircraft."His friend gave him a depressed look before sighing and following was surprisingly enough nowhere to be seen so Shinji did the noble thing of going to look for his friend and fellow pilot only to find him chasing his hat before it was stomped by someone,As Shinji took notice of who exactly stomped the hat his eyes widened,the second child.

"Hello Misato,how have you been"She said with an overly cheery tone and a barely noticeable looked at Toji once again,who looked like he was ready to explode. _Don't do something stupid for the love of god she can break your arm 5 different ways with her shoe alone._

"I'm fine and my god you've grown." _if by fine you mean bathed in enough radiation to kill an elephant just 1 week ago then yes your 'fine'._ Shinji was both incredibly glad and surprised to find out she hadn't gotten any kind of cancer.

"I'm not just taller my figure's filled out nicely too."Shinji did agree that the second Child was incredibly beautiful,even more so in person then in the photographs he had received from the magi using his access codes.

"Well let me introduce you,this is Asuka langely Sohryu,the second child."'The second child was actually an in-correct title for her,technically speaking _he_ was the second child while she was the third,however his training was to be kept a secret and as such he was given the title of third.

And then the wind in the super-carrier picked up and her dress moved to reveal her panties. _white...nice and OW!_

"Ow,what was that for?!"Toji cried out as Shinji rubbed his cheek on the spot the slap had landed.

"The viewing fee,quite a bargain don't you think." _yes quite a bargain indeed...NO,THINK PURE THOUGHTS!_ However Shinji's mind kept going back to that one moment and he was pretty much sure he was going to get as red as a tomato.

"Well then here's you change!"Shinji's face went blank as his friends pulled his pants and accidentally his boxers as well. 

_**SLAP!**_

"So who's the famous third chi-"But before she could even finish the question she was surprised by Shinji,who kicked Toji in back with all his strength. _  
_

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!"He continues to kick his downed friend as he begs for mercy. "YOUR THE SHAME OF THE PILOT CORPS!"His friend was fake-crying at this point as Shinji continued to berate him.

"Pilot corps..."Asuka's eyes suddenly widen. "Don't tell me he's the third" She looked at the downed Toji who was begging for mercy on the ground.

"Don't worry..its him."Misato points at Shinji who had just ordered Toji to run 50 laps across the ship.

"Sorry about that... I'm Shinji Ikari nice to meet you."She looks at him for a second before thinking.' _i thought he'd be duller.'_

A few minutes later the group,save for Toji who was still running laps around the ship, were now in the bridge with a rather irate captain.

"I thought you would be the leader of this group of boyscouts,i was sadly mistaken."Shinji had heard less than 10 words coming from the man's mouth and he already wanted to punch him in the jaw.

"Thank you for understanding captain."

"No,thank you for giving me another chance at baby-sitting children."Shinji just hoped the angel would attack _NOW_ so he wouldn't have to deal with the captain's bullshit for another second.

"We appreciate your assistance in the marine transport of unit-02"Shinji didn't really know why they had chosen to take a sea route,especially since the Suez and panama canals were both destroyed in the Post-impact floods, which meant the unit had to cross the entirety of Africa and most of Oceania simply to reach japan,the fact NERV-Cairo had not managed to find a way to open the Suez in time was why Unit-02 had not been present when the third angel attacked,or the fourth, fifth and also the sixth. "Here are the specifications for the emergency power supply socket."

"As if I'd approve of such a request in the first activate that toy at sea,dont make me laugh!"Shinji had never before wanted to use his so-called 'toy' to stomp someone as badly as he did now.

"Think of it as precaution in case of emergency captain"Shinji could tell misato was losing her cool from the way she kept looking at him in a desperate plea for help.

"Is that not why the pacific fleet is guarding it or are we a cargo service now?"Shinji just couldn't listen to the man's bullshit anymore.

"Exactly that sir."The man looks at him in surprise. "You are indeed a cargo service and nothing more,unless of course you believe your fleet has enough fire-power to surpass something capable of taking a direct hit from a n2 mine with minimal damage."The man looked at him in equal parts shock and anger before bursting out into shouting.

"GET THIS INSOLENT BRAT OFF MY BRIDGE!"Shinji was quite happy to oblige,waiting outside for the others who looked equally shocked at his sudden response,thought Shinji did not miss Misato's smile of approval as he headed out of the bridge.

Shinji idly wondered how exactly he'd gone from waiting outside by himself to waiting in a cramped elevator with the entire group,this time Toji and Kaji included,as it descended down and the two adults bickered.

"What are you even doing here?"Misato asked as she attempted to shift into a more comfortable position.

"I'm on a business trip from Germany of course."

"Man,i should have anticipated this."

"Can you two stop bickering,AND WHO THE HELL JUST TOUCHED MY CROTCH!?"Shinji yelled out as everyone quickly said 'not me'.

Soon they were all having tea in a table for six,well to be more exact everyone but Shinji was having tea while he fulled his Coffee addiction even further.

"So...Do you have a boyfriend now?"Kaji asked in a half joking tone to which Misato took incredibly serious.

"None of your business now is it?"She shot back in annoyance which nearly made Shinji laugh,he loved to get under Misato's skin and by the looks of it so did the spy,he had a feeling they would get along well. _Now if you could just stop 'seeking for the truth'..._

"So mean.."he comments as he takes a sip of his tea before looking at Shinji "Say,your living with Misato right?"Shinji simply nods in response as he takes a sip of his coffee.

"So tell me,is she still so wild in bed."Shinji smirks. _i see what your doing...alright I'll bite._

"Oh is she ever..." Everyone looks at both of them and Misato turns completely red.

"J-just what are you implying...AND DONT ENCOURGE HIM SHINJI"Shinji had a feeling he would have to break _that_ order,he could use to get some tips from the man on how to tease Misato.

"She really hasn't changed at all has she,Ikari Shinji-kun" _saying my name before you should even know it,a power play perhaps?_

"indeed. Ryoji Kaji."The man's smile fades for a second before coming back as strong as ever. _So you hid behind a fake smile,interesting..._

…

"So,what do you think of Ikari Shinji?"Asuka hears her soon-to-be-lover-by-force-if-necessary ask.

"He's interesting I suppose,but now what I expected out of the great third child." From what little of his file she'd read she had expected a sheltered boy with no knowledge of how the real world worked,perhaps someone with confidence issues,yet in reality he was quite the opposite,even in his eyes age could be felt and he walked with such sureness one would think he was king of the world. _He's not boring to say the least but still nothing when compared to my Kaji._

"Interesting indeed,his Synch ratio was well over 60% in combat with no training."Had Kaji not been there Asuka would have fallen to her death as in shock she let go of the railing and nearly fell into the cold waters below.

"i-i-impossible"Her best ratio _EVER_ was 72%,and she had trained her whole life for piloting,for the boy to simply be _that_ talented or lucky was nigh she looked for answers on how that could be she soon found her's. _of course he'd have a higher ratio in a worse unit_

She would show him the superiority of her own unit 2 and prove herself the best pilot once again.

…

* * *

Out of all things Shinji expected in his life, beinh suddenly pulled by the collar by an angry german red head to 'see her robot',was not among them. Thought the prospect of finally seeing a real combat unit did excite him,even if it was the most basic among the 10 planned Combat units.

"This is Evangelion unit 02"She explained as if it wasn't the most obvious thing in the world. "Unit's 00 and 01 were the prototype and test type respectively,the fact they can synchronize with an untrained pilot like you is proof of that."Actually Unit-01 and even more so unit-00 were harder to synchronize with due to Unit-01's refusal of anyone _but_ her soon and unit-00's...quirks one could say?

"However unit-02 is different,it's..."She was quickly cut off by Shinji.

"The final design module,built for real combat situations and the world's first production line evangelion"Shinji liked to know things about the Evas,he could say every planned difference in every unit from 00 to 12 and technically 13,even if it was not supposed to was about to reply when an underwater explosion caught their attention. _Its here._

"Was that?"He asked.

"An undersea shockwave!"Asuka exclaimed as she rushed of to the railings to see the source of said explosion.

"Angel."Shinji stated somberly as he looked at the destroyed remains of an Ayanami class heard Asuka mutter something but couldn't quite figure out what it was as the enemy continued to wreck the fleet. _As expected even dozens of ships with enough fire-power to level a city do nothing to an AT field._

Shinji was then dragged around by the hand by Asuka to god knows where.

"Where in god's name are you taking me woman"He asked before she stooped in front of a stairway and looked back at him.

"Just wait here for a second."She orders,he sighs before sitting down in one of the steps and waiting,she was taking quite the while and as such Shinji did something that in hindsight was incredibly stupid and peeked.

"GYAH,DONT PEAK YOU PERVERT!"He replied with a short and panicked 'sorry' as his face went completely red.

A few seconds later she handed him another Red plugsuit,he looked at it for a few moments and then looked at the battle and at the plugsuit.

"God fucking damn it"He takes it with a sigh and walks to get dressed. He comes out in an overly tight plugsuit,especially in certain places.

"So,we're going out there without permission."He asked with a raised eyebrow

"We'll ask permission after we defeat it"She replied with a huge smirk on her face.

"Just my kind of plan."He climbed into the unit and moved towards the Outstretched entry plug.

"Now,)'ll show you how magnificent my piloting is."If Shinji was being completely honest he liked her attitude,unlike him she seemed to be genuinely confident in her ability as a if Shinji was incredibly well trained he still doubted his own Skill sometimes.

They entered the plug and began the initiation sequence for the unit.

"L.C.L Fullung,Anfang der Bewengung,Anfag des Nervenanschlusses,Ausolen Von linksneigung,synchro start."Shinji jumped slightly as error messages appeared all over the plug. _thought noise,shit._ He _might_ have gotten distracted with her voice.

"Thought noise!"She looked at him "I told you not to disturb me" his head Sunk into his shoulders in slight embarrassment "Your thinking in Japanese aren't you?Think in german." Had she simply assumed he knew the language,because he did but even so making assumptions was rude.

"Ja, Ma'am. vorausgesetzt, ich spreche Deutsch ist übrigens unhöflich"He answered,the unit then activates as the thought noise clears.

"Evangelion Unit-02,active!"Shinji then mentally went through the checklist of their equipment,they would have no long-range weapons,meaning his marksmanship would be useless,they also did not have NERV resources and were currently running on backup power,and there was the fact that Unit-02 Didn't have A-type equipment,if they fell.

"If we fall we're as good as dead..."

"Then we wont"Shinji looked at her and laughed. "I suppose that's the spirit"He says with a looks ahead at the mass of approaching water.

"It's coming our way"Shinji stated moments before unit-02 leaped through the air and landed on another ship,just in time for the ship they were formerly on to start sinking into the ocean.

"Really glad I hopped on now."He said moments before the unit started leaping from ship to ship causing massive damage to their decks as it did so. _And now the conventional forces will hate our guts even more_.Shinji sighed as the unit's cloak was released from it in a rather dramatic hops around multiple other ships before landing graciously in the super-carrier's deck

"Connecting external power."Asuka says as the external power cable connects and the internal countdown stops.

"We still don't have a weapon"Not that Shinji needed a weapon,his second kill had been with his Eva's bare hands but he was not so sure of that underwater.

"The progressive knife should be enough"

"Good enough for now at least"he says as the unit retrieves it's progressive knife handle which then extends into a more advanced version of the knife. _I want that in unit-01,add that to the list of things to ask of Ritsuko._

The angel's colossal figure rises from the water slightly.

"Bigger than I thought."He smirks. "At least we'll have a challenge."

"That's right!"Asuka agreed as the angel approached the carrier's deck and slammed into the unit,the sheer strength of the angel's mass tipping the carrier slightly to its side and making Unit-02 drop its knife. As it continued to struggle unit 2 falters for a moment and is thrown into the water with it.

"Asuka,you can't fight underwater with B-type equipment!"Misato warned under the coms,in reality there was about a 0.005% Chance they would be able did not like those odds and much less did Asuka.

"You never know if you don't try"Shinji thought it awfully optimistic of her as the unit was now being dragged through several underwater ruined buildings that were once part of their cable length ran out and the unit came to a dead stop.

"Its coming."Shinji warned,Asuka looks at him with a frown "I see that, idiot!"Shinji rolls his eyes at the comment as she tries to move the unit. "What?its not working."

"B-type equipment" Shinji says through Gritted teeth,they weren't going anywhere without A-type equipment.

"Then do something,third!"Shinji went through the options in his mind,the one that would most probably lead to victory was praying and hoping Misato had a angel approached them its huge mouth opening before biting into the unit.

"The situation keeps getting better"Shinji comments sarcastically as he attempts to free the Eva from the angel's jaws to little effect.

"Shut up and get off me you pervert!"She shouts at him, _is now the time to be worrying about the fact I'm being a 'pervert'._

"Asuka do you hear me?"They both looked up,paying attention to Misato's sudden call. "Don't let go of it!"She orders,Shinji mentally hits his head against a wall,would any of that woman's plans not be crazy?.However with little choice but to comply they hold onto the angel tighter. A few minutes of planning later and Asuka was hitting him in the head,for some reason.

"Do the two of you understand the operation"Shinji looks up to reply.

"Yeah,can do boss."At very least this plan didn't involve anyone's nigh certain death,unlike her last one,not that his battle plans were often much better. The one against the fourth angel a clear example of his planning skills,or lack thereof.

Soon they could feel as the cable was suddenly pulled back and the was launched back words along with the angel.

"Hey your touching my...get off"Shinji looked at her with the best poker face he could muster at that moment in time.

"I Don't think now's really the time for this"The Eva continues to be pulled toward the humphed but let go of his hair before leaning forward to grab onto the Eva's control yokes,her chest pressing into Shinji's back as she did so.

 _Think unsexy thoughts think un-sexy thoughts!_

 _kensuke humping an helicopter,thanks mind,thanks..._

"Don't get any strange ideas.."Asuka said with a scowl.

"Would never princess."He said in a overly sarcastic tone as he attempted to will the angel's mouth open.

"15 seconds until contact."Shinji willed the unit to push up with more strength.

 _Open!Open!OPEN GOD DAMN IT!_ With a cry of anger both pilots willed the Eva to push up and miraculously enough it did,the angel's mouth came open and both of the scuttled ships rammed inside it before opening fire. Neither of the pilots see the explosion as they attempted to direct the now flying Eva into the 'Over the rainbow's deck.

…

* * *

Ryoji Kaji looked at the blank expression that was the norm on Commander Gendo Ikari's face before speaking.

"It was a rather eventful trip,was it caused by this I wonder?"He pointed at the case in the Commander's desk,inside it was Adam,as well as a little something else.

"What caused the Angel's attack is un-important,the scenario goes forward as planned."The commander stated simply as he looked at the frozen form of Adam.

"Whatever you say boss."Kaji said as he light a cigarette aflame and slowly put it in his mouth.

 **…**

* * *

"She was cute and all,but was a total bitch"Toji had been complaining about Asuka's bitchiness for last 10 minutes and it was starting to get on Shinji's nerves.

"And we have to see her at work,what a pain"He says with an exasperated sight before the sound of the door sliding catches his attention. There standing in all her glory was Asuka Langley Shoryu. As toji pointed towards her while shooting out an incoherent mess of words Shinji couldn't help but laugh out loud,things for the young pilot had just gotten incredibly more interesting.

…

* * *

 **The angry German has arrived to kick ass and chew gum and she's still got plenty of gum.**


	9. Chapter 9-Isfrael Strikes

**I always loved this episode's name- _BOTH OF YOU DANCE LIKE YOU WANT TO WIN!_**

…

* * *

"Hello,Shinji"The boy in question turned around toward his red-headed classmate. "Guten morgen!"

"Guten morgen Asuka"He replied in a bored had spent most of yesterday night in the Lazarus evolution lab and was completely and utterly exhausted.

"Why so gloom?The most beautiful girl in school is greeting you."While she did come of as highly arrogant Shinji couldn't help but agree,not that he would ever say it out loud,it would only fuel her already massive ego. "I'm the most popular girl in school and all,you should be happy I even speak to you" and technically speaking he was the most popular guy in school. _Yet I don't parade it around like its some kind of trophy_

"Hey is the other here?"

"Other?" He asked with a slight tilt of his head.

"What are you stupid?"he wanted to reply with yes if only to see her reaction. "The first child of course!"

"Oh?Rei,she's sitting down on that bench over there." He pointed toward the girl who was doing exactly whet he said she was while reading a book.

Asuka approached her,blocking off the sunlight as she did so,Rei merely moved the book slightly to the right and continued reading,only for the German redhead to take yet another step forward and block her sunlight once was still in bandages from her fight with the Sixth angel,Cassiel.

"Hello!" Her overly cheery tone had managed to irritate Ayanami in merely 2 seconds, _a new record,only will have a chance to beat it._ Asuka looked mildly irritated at the other pilot's lack of response and continued to speak. "You must be Rei Ayanami,the pilot of the prototype.I'm Asuka Langley Sohryu,pilot of unit-02." She said proudly,if one paid attention they could hear Shinji shout 'THAT'S CLASSIFIED DAMN IT' over the Redhead ignored him and continued speaking. "Let's be good friends."

Rei found no reason to be friends with her fellow pilot,her first impressions had not been so good,she had beaten a record when it came to annoying her,not to say pilot Ikari had started paying more attention to the foreign girl than herself,leading to the development of an odd emotion some would call such she questioned why the other piloted wished it so.

"Why?"

"What do you mean why,it would be convenient you know?"Rei look up from her book for a split second before replying.

"If I am ordered to I will."

"Talk about odd"Asuka said with a small frown.

Staying slightly behind the crowd and leaning against the wall were the 3 male looked at Asuka in annoyance while Shinji sighed at Ayanami's response. _As usual for her she refuses to live her life._

"Are only weirdos chosen to be pilot or sumthing?" Toji immediately got what was wrong with his question when his fellow pilots looked at him.

"Must be,if they choose you" Shinji said with a grin before yawning. He then approached the red-head with a small smile.

"Don't mind her,Rei's not good with small talk"The German merely responded with a 'hmp!' before going on with her life.

…

* * *

Meanwhile at NERV-HQ...

"You've lost some weight." Kaji teased his old friend as he put his arms around her neck. Ritsuko for her part laughed before asking. "Is that so?"

"You must be suffering from unrequited love"He said in an overly dramatic looked up at him.

"Oh..and how would you know?"

"A woman with a mole in the pathway to her tears destined to live a life full of them"

"If your trying to put a move on me,I'm afraid you can't." She looked ahead "There's a very ugly face observing us." Kaji laughed as he saw Misato's rather pissed off expression.

"Its been a while hasn't it?"He nodded as Misato entered the room "Your a little less discreet than I remembered."

"He hasn't ever been discreet his whole life!"Misato Shouted as she stomped past them. "You've already delivered Unit-02,shouldn't you be getting the hell out of here?"Kaji looked at her for a moment before laughing.

"So eager to see me gone are you?Well,i have bad news for you,I'll be staying here on loan for the time being."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Misato wondered who had cursed her to a life of misery,a sentiment which was very much helped by the sudden blaring of the Angel emergency alarms. "OH COME ON!"

On the combat bridge Fuyutsuki looked at the screen in front of him as the crew continued to get readings on what was assumed to be an angel.

"A report from the battle-cruiser Haruna detects a large submerged presence of the cost of the kii peninsula,paddern detected blue,Bismarck class super-submarine engaged the enemy with 25% of its available ordnance,no damage detected,both the Haruna and Bismarck are retreating,The JSSDF is surrendering control of the operation to NERV." Fuyutsuki nods.

"All personnel,first stage alert!"

 **…**

* * *

Shinji watched the ground below him pass by idly as units 1 and 2 were transported to the beach for emergency combat operations. Unit 00 was in standby at the Geo-front with Kensuke as its temporary pilot. Asuka seemed incredibly mad at having to sortie with unit-01 by her side.

"This sucks,my Japanese debut and she wont let me pilot solo!"Shinji rolled his eyes before turning on the communications system and answering.

"Hey I also want to have some fun you know?I can't be cooped up in school all day or I'll go mad."The fact Shinji honestly enjoyed fighting for his life against demonic creatures dozens of meters tall told a lot about the Japanese education system after second impact.

"Whatever!Just stay out of my way."Shinji actually recoiled a bit in his seat as the German shouted bloody murder at him. _Honestly can't you even appreciate people helping you?_

"Jawohl mein führer" Was his short and sarcastic answer as they slowly approached the beach the angel was supposedly headed towards. The dead sea scrolls simply called this one Isfrael,twin angels of Music poetry and Dance,but as far as the intel they were provided stated they had encountered only one angel. Which meant one of two things, angel's names had no correlation to their abilities,or were missing something incredibly important about this gut told him it was the second option.

He hoped for the first time in his life that his gut was wrong as Eva-01 was drooped from the plane and fell down next to unit-02.

"Two against one isn't what I'd call a fair fight."Shinji actually gaped at that,of course it wasn't fair,that was the whole point!

"So you want to give the eldritchian abominations that are trying to destroy or entire race a fair chance?"He asked in a sarcastic tone to which his fellow pilot merely scoffed as their units both rose to their feet,power cables now connected to their backs.

An Explosion of water signified the angel's presence and Asuka's Eva began rushing toward it.

"I'll handle it,cover me!"She ordered,to which Shinji merely sighed and began firing upon the enemy with the pallet gun in his hands,he much preferred to use a sniper. Perhaps he could request one in the next engagement instead of an assault rifle.

He watched with no small amount of awe as Eva-02 jumped from building to building,spear in hand as it moved toward the angel,and then in one fluid jumping motion cut if in half.

"She actually did it..."his voice was but a whisper as he watched the angel's dead body with awe.

"What did you think of that third child?A fight should be clean elegant and without waste"Shinji just blinked a few times before getting some words out.

"Normally i'd have a witty comment to make about this but im just far too impressed." And then the angel's 'dead' form began to shift

"OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE!"

…

* * *

Shinji had never wanted to die more in his life than he did at that moment,he'd rather have his chest carved into by Ramiel a thousand times more than see the footage of his,admittedly lackluster performance one more time. Ritsuko's 'this is pathetic' comment hadn't helped either,especially since it had been her _official_ comment and not something she'd said to Misato or Shinji himself in an attempt to irritate him.

"This is all your fault!You screwed up my grand debut battle!" _Don't snap at her don't snap at her don't snap..._

"ME?!YOUR THE ONE WHO CHARGED IN WITHOUT A PLAN ROOKIE!"They continued their bickering as the Sub-commander looked on disapprovingly,if Shinji recalled the files he had been given prior to the meting correctly than that meant they had given control of the operation back to the JSSDF something which NERV had yet needed to do in the nearly half an year of angel attacks.

"Pathetic...we've been humiliated."Shinji looks at Fuyutsuki,was humiliation all the worst thing that had happened in the last battle for him?They had lost both of their units and would need to use millions more in repairs,their 2 best pilots were now not seeing eye to eye and their only other available pilot was completely inexperienced,not to say a terrible shoot with Eva-00's main weapon.

He then got up and looked at the 2 "Listen here you two. Do you know what your job is?"Asuka was of course quick to respond as was usual of the irritating red-head.

"To pilot Eva."

"NO,your job is to pilot Eva,NERV does not exist to make grotesque displays like this!"He points toward the fallen form of unit-01 and then that of unit-02. "You two must cooperate."

"Why should we?!"Both said in unison before looking away from eachother in anger.

…

Shinji was extremely exhausted after the last few day's events and as he returned from school all he could hope to do was lay down on his bed,listen to his SDAT and probably cry himself to sleep if Misato wasn't home. Yeah,that sounded like a great plan. Especially since no one was home.  
He opened the door to his and Misato's shared apartment and sighed as he stepped inside.

"I'm ,As has been usual for my entire life." He said the last part with quite a large amount of sarcasm as he walked inside and wondered why the apartment felt like it was smaller than usual,probably just his exhaustion getting the better of he opened another door he was confronted with a wall of boxes.

"What the hell..."He asked in a low tone as his tired mind tried to process what was happening there.

"Don't be so rude,these are my personal belongings."He heard someone say beside him to which he turned and looked.

"Oh,hello Asuka."He said in a calm expression before doing a double take. _asuka?_ "wait,what,WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?!"  
"Why are you still here" _I live here_ "you've been dumped for the new model" _we're the same age,my Eva's got 5 more kills than yours and we've both went through the same training regiment.  
_

"Misato will be living with me"She points to herself before continuing. "But that's expected when considering my superior abilities."

Shinji then noticed a small box in a corner. _Don't snap,MUST NOT KILL._

"And the Japanese sure don't have any sense of privacy,how can they live in rooms without locks,unbelievable." Shinji didn't listen to her rant he was busy clenching and un-clenching his hands in an attempt not to strangler her,burn the neighborhood down and go on a rampage with his Eva. Thankfully the sudden appearance of Misato saved Asuka from her untimely demise at the hands of Shinji.

"It is the Japanese way to consider other's needs above our own."Both of them look at her,Shinji's expression a mix of 'If you had anything to do with this I _will_ _**MURDER**_ you' and 'SAVE ME _!"._  
"How are you two,getting along fine?" _Yes if by fine you mean its been less than a quarter of an hour and I want to see her Squirm,in an non-sexual way. okay maybe in THAT way too but later!_

A few minutes of conversation later and an explanation of the angel's abilities Misato finally reached her point,a point Shinji REALLY _REALLY_ hoped he'd heard 's reaction was quite a bit more shocked than his calm attempt at not killing his guardian.

"NO WAY!A boy and a girl should never sleep together after the age of seven." _Unless their dating,or having sex,or married,or have no choice,there are a lot of situations in which your logic does not apply Asuka._

"The angel is currently regenerating itself,it will begin its assault in 6 days,there is no time."Shinji crossed his arms and looked away from his guardian with a frown on his face.

 **…**

* * *

"You've betrayed us!"Neither Asuka or Shinji wanted to deal with Toji at that moment in time,yet here he was,looking at Shinji with a betrayed expression that made the synchronized teens roll their eyes. "You look like 2 peas in a pod,i cant' believe this!"

"Neither can we,it's Misato's fault!"They both said at the same time. "She's forcing us to breath eat and sleep together." Hikari gasped.

"Y-your living a life of sin,how awful."Both Asuka and Shinji facepalm at that.

"Not like that!"They both shouted out at the same time. Before looking at each other and sighing in synch.

Misato then arrived and explained everything over,thankfully non-alcoholic,drinks to which everyone present save for the 2 pilots and the ever so deadpan Rei laughed at.

"So much for Synchronization,i could never sink to the level of a pathetic turnip."Shinji would reply with an overly sarcastic tone if he wasn't currently just a mess of sprawled limbs on the ground.

"Then do you give up?" Asuka scoffed at the proposition.

"You've got nobody else do you?"She asked sarcastically.

"Suzuhara,give it your shoot"While they did better than Shinji and Asuka had,it was still nowhere as good as then left in a hurry,and before Hikari could even speak up for her friend Shinji was after her.

"Well..."he started.

"Don't you dare say a thing Third!"She replied,he merely sighed and lowered himself into a crouch to meet her own height as she looked at the drinks the store sold. "i know." She then stated in a whisper.

"I have to pilot,there is no choice.I'll do it"

"No matter what,I'll put the stooges and Rei to shame!"Shinji rolled his eyes,thought he was at least somewhat glad she was back to her old self.

"That's the spirit"He said with a smile as he took a sip of his cold coffee,he mourned in his hearth at having to do such sacrilege but his body was in dire need of some caffeine even if it came from heretical stuffs like cold coffee.

 **…**

* * *

 ****  
"Where's Misato?"Asuka asked as she dried herself in the bathroom,Shinji went through a few pages of his manga with little intrest.

"At work,she'll be there all night." He answered,he did feel quite bad for his guardian,she had overworked herself immensely in those last few days and all he could do was make dinner and lunch as thanks.

"So that means we're all alone tonight."She grabbed her futon and put it in the hallway before turning back toward him.

"This is the impenetrable wall of jericho!Third Child. Take one step over it and you'll be a dead man!"Was she inviting him?a test of his knowledge perhaps?Now did he want to be arrogant and basically claim himself to be _god_ by 'destroying' the walls of Jericho?Had she simply said whatever came to her mind?He decided to stay in his own bed out of fear for his life if nothing else. "And now its time for the children to go to bed" She proclaimed before closing the door.

A few minutes pass,Shinji can't sleep,he can't help but feel like he made the worst decision in his life by not entering the hallway then,he hears the door open. _What is she doing?_

She lays down next to him,her eyes still closed as she does looks at her,had she been sleep walking?It was the most likely answer as to why she was there in the first place,he looked at her face,calm and serene possibly one of the few times he would ever get to see it like her lips s,her lips were so very beautiful he simply wanted to reach out and.

"Mama.."He freezes,before looking at her again,she was still once serene face now twisted in fear,he remembers one small passage he had read on her file.'Mother committed suicide after failed contact experiment with Evangelion unit 2.'He looks at her with a saddened expression,he knew how that felt,to so desperately wish for someone you barely even knew,someone you could barely remember yet loved so strongly none the less. And as such he did the only thing he could,he held her close and hoped that things would turn out alright. _Because in the end,i guess we're both just kids_ _,aren't we?...Asuka._

…

* * *

 **End of chapter 9.**


	10. Chapter 10-Magma diver

**AN: Better late than never?...ok, just jump to the chapter.**

* * *

Things were quiet for once in the household, everyone was sitting down at the table, things were quiet, no world-ending threats, no scheming secret organizations, no...

"WAAH?! I can't go on the trip?!"And just like that, a perfectly good can of tea suffered Shinji's silent wrath..may it rest in peace, may it rest in peace indeed. "Why?!"

"Because you're on standby for combat duty" _As expected, we really can't have nice things, can we?_ Thought the young man as he cleaned away the mess he'd made without either of the two others noticing.

"You never told me something like that!"

"I just did."Okay, he had to admit, asshole move.

"Who the Hell decided that!"Misato herself he'd guess, she was in charge after all.

"Me, the Operations planning manager."Yup, he hated when he was right. Asuka straightens herself and looks at him, turns out staying still doesn't make one invisible.

"And you, stop standing there and say something, be a man!"He sighs, what exactly was he supposed to say 'hey Misato, yer being a cunt' yeah, for some reason he thought that wouldn't go over well.

"Well, I expected this to be honest."

"And so you're just going to give up."

"Yeah, nothing I can do so I guess I'll just lay down and die...shit that's depressing now that I think about it."Depressive indeed. _I need a drink...or fifty._

"Anyway."Misato continued. "You can take the time to study, or do you think I didn't know about these" _To be honest I'm surprised it took you this long to figure it out._ It wasn't that he was bad at school, it was that he couldn't give a damn, his schedule was bad enough without the added weight of bothering to study for things he'd learned years ago.

"Well, it's not like these old school grading systems mean anything to me!" _Preach it, sister._ he would have said it out loud but technically and legally speaking he didn't have the same education she had.

"You know what they say when in Rome do as the Romans do."He did suppose Misato had somewhat of a point, even if it was a pain to have to study, at least with the 2 others in vacation he wouldn't have to train them as well as everything else.

* * *

Physics, ah his old enemy struck yet again, this was theoretically easy, but theory often proved disappointing in reality and as such Shinji simply threw his head back and groaned. _Fuck physics._ Which was ironically enough what he did every time he got into an Evangelion.

"What are you doing, Shinji-Kun?"He looks at her.

"Wondering what the most effective method to kill oneself is and studying physics,but mostly the first."He replied jokingly, mostly at least.

"So, big shot student has some difficulties after all"He sighed.

"Well, it's not lik-"as he pulled his head back to its normal position he was meet with the image of Asuka in a swimsuit,Shinji thought it was a pleasant image, indeed a very pleasant image.

"Ta-da, since I can't go scuba diving in Okinawa I'll do it here!"She says excitedly.

"Really now?"He asks, She nods.

"What are you working on? Let me see" She leans in, he had a very good view of her...assets, but as the gentleman, he was or at least attempted to be he manages to pry his eyes away and onto the screen. He was astounded, to say the least at the ease through which she did the problems on it. "You can't solve such an easy problem as this? There, here you go"

"Wow, impressive, how did you solve something like this."He knew of course of her education, even still with the same if not a better one Shinji had difficulties doing the same thing, leading to believe he was simply stupider.

"Well, I've already gone to college!"She sounded so proud that he couldn't really do anything but fake surprise.

"College, that's amazing!"She gave a proud grin puffed out her chest and gave it a small punch. "But I do have to ask, why are your grades so bad if that is the case?"

"That's because I can't understand the questions, I still don't know all the Kanji."She says

"Well, I can help you with that."It was only fair really, she'd helped him and he'd help her, he also enjoyed spending time with her, even if she liked to call him an idiot on a constant basis.

"Really?"The look on her face made her suspicion clear. "What's the catch,baka-kun?"He laughed at the 'nickname' she gave him.

"No catch, I promise."She continues eyeing him suspiciously for a few more seconds before making a soft 'hmm' and pointing at the screen.

"What does this one say?"He looked at the screen before looking back at her with a response.

"Something about thermal expansion, never my strong suit."He replied truthfully

"Eh? Thermal Expansion, that's kid's stuff"He really would like to know what she considered 'adult stuff'..that sounded kind of perverted now that he thought about it. "Simply putting it things expand when they get hot and shrink when they get cold."

"Okay know for a fact your oversimplification, but sounds easy in theory" _But you know what they say about theory_.

"If I were to warm up my breasts do you think they'd grow bigger?"Was she teasing him...she was.

"I'd say their already right about the best size."She looked away from him with a slight blush.

"Perverted baka..."And with this, she goes swimming. "Watch this, Shinji!"He looks at her. "Backroll entry!"He just smiles and starts unbuttoning his shirt, studying could wait an hour or two.

"Wait for me!"And soon after he splashes after her.

* * *

Shinji had a bad feeling about this, an offensive,they didn't do offensives,that's just not what NERV was designed to do on a conceptual level,he would rather wait it out,let them come to them and blast them apart with the advantage of both time to prepare and of having whatever weapons he could need only a moment's notice away.

"That's the angel then?"Making questions helped keep his mind off the fact that this assault was a terrible fucking idea.

"Indeed,the angel has yet to reach its adult phase and as such the main objective of this operation is to capture it."

"If we fail?" looked at him.

"You kill it or die. Understood?" _Ah, cheerful as ever I see_

"Aye!"The 3 responded in Unison

"The designated pilot for the operation is..."And that is when she was rudely interrupted by an overeager redhead.

"Me please let it be me!"Shinji just looks to the side and rolls his eyes.

"Asuka, you will sortie with unit-02" Asuka seems a bit too pleased at the idea, Shinji for his part just sighed and hoped to god things would work out okay.

* * *

Tap tip tap tip, why was it taking so long? Surely it couldn't take that long to lower a 160,000 Ton giant biomechanical death robot into the depths of a volcano...ok, maybe it could and maybe it did but still, the feeling in his gut that something bad was going to happen was only getting worse and worse. A sudden glint in Shinji's vision distracts him from his internal issues for a second.

"The JASSDF is here?"He questioned.

"Yes, both they and the UN are on standby alert."He immediately knew what that meant.

"Will the help us?"Asuka chirped in.

"No..i reckon they're here for clean up if we screw things up. And by clean up I mean to make this place look like Hiroshima in 1945 if we fail."Shinji stated, everyone was silent for a moment. "what, oh come on, you all know it's true!"

"Lets...start the operation."Wow, he'd managed to make speechless, he was getting better at badly timed comedic quips. Soon the Unit was lowering itself into the lava and Shinji's uneasiness only seemed to grow.

"Hey Shinji, watch this!"His eyes lift to the screen showing the unit. "giant stroke entry!"He smiles at her antics and keeps his eyes glued on the screen. _don't die here Asuka._

And so he waited and waited, and really he was starting to get tired of waiting when the first coolant pipe broke.

"Misato, this isn't safe..."His teeth clench together.

"Its necessary" _That would be easier to buy if you believed it yourself._

And shortly after the second one, his Evangelion takes a step forward. "Shinji, hold, that's an order!"He exhales heavily and wills the beast to a stop.

This entire operation was stupid, it was unnecessary, a gamble, and when you're dealing with the fate of the entire world you _don't_ gamble, Shinji's hands clenched and unclenched as he watched the Progressive knife dislodge itself from Unit-02's arm.

And then...success, he breathed a sigh of relief, the angel was captured and everything was, for once, fine.

"Are you alright Asuka?"

"Of course Baka Shinji, if anything this suit is the worse part of it."He laughs at her response, things are well when..an alarm rings.

"Fuck."And this was one of the many reasons he trusted his gut.

"Shinji, your Knife, throw into the volcano, now!"He nodded.

"You don't need to tell me twice!"With this, he grabs it and with an AT enhanced boost throws it in. Soon the Angel is dead, at the cost of the last of the pipes holding the Unit up promptly decided to ignore orders and with a shout(In part to lessen his fear of jumping into literal lava)he descends to grab onto the cables.

"Shinji?"She seemed surprised, he just smiled. "Idiot...always showing off"They both knew she didn't mean it.

* * *

Things were for once relaxed, the hot water seemed to boil away his frustrations, fears, and worries, he would give anything for these precious few moments of silen-

"Shinji-kun!"Misato..of course, he just had to go and jinx himself, didn't he?

"Yes, Misato?"He didn't let his annoyance show, he wouldn't allow it to, this was a good moment, deep breaths.

"Would you throw me some shampoo?"Then another voice butts in, Asuka's

"We ran out of ours."

"Got it, catch!"And with that, he throws.

"Ouch, watch were your throwing"He grins.

"I mean, I can't exactly see through these walls..unless you want me to that is."He says, taking far too much pleasure from pleasing her.

"OI!PERVERT!"Both he and Misato laugh at her outburst, good times, good times indeed.

* * *

 **And with that is it, you can expect MUCH more frequent updates, especially since I've got 3 more chapters ready to go soon enough,See you all in the next chapter**


	11. Chapter 11-Matriel Strikes

_**AN: This thing has been laying completed on my computer for a week and I just kept spell checking it way too many times so I decided to man up and just post the damn thing.**_

* * *

The day had been quiet and rather unremarkable, nothing out of the ordinary had happened, Shinji woke up, went to school, and headed to NERV, but his key card was failing to work.

Shinji's eyebrow rose slightly as he ran his card through the scanner for a second time. Nothing.

"Weird. Ayanami, try it with yours please." After no effect either a rather irate Asuka pushed her way to the door.

"What are you two idiots doing?!"Upon running her own card through...nothing. "This thing must be broken or something!"Shinji now had _that_ feeling in his gut, even so, he followed Asuka's lead elsewhere while thinking of the possibilities of what was happening. When they arrive in the next location failure. And then another one, and another one.

"This one's failed too," Asuka said aloud with a sigh.

"None of the facilities work, unusual" Replied the ever stoic Rei, Shinji for his part continued to run possibilities through his mind.

"Could this mean that something's happened in the geofront?"Asuka Asked, Shinji had long ago reached that conclusion, but what _exactly_ had happened?

"There's something fishy going on, "He said, Asuka looked at him.

"No shit Sherlock!"He sighed at her constant aggressiveness.

"I mean, worse then it looks, the only reason such a failure would happen on a large scale would be if the Geo-front was fully or partially offline."Asuka's eyes widen slightly at the implication

"So, your saying headquarters is under attack, or maybe a power outage?"He considered both implications.

"An attack? I doubt it, that wouldn't disable all of the entryways and a blackout.."He considers it for a moment, it was theoretically impossible for all 3 of NERV's generators to stop working at once, especially considering one of them was a series of Nuclear reactors that weren't meant to _ever_ be disconnected from the main grid. Unless of course, sabotage had happened. "...a blackout then."

Asuka sighs with exasperation and begins pulling out something from her bag.

"What are you looking for?"He asks, she immediately moves her face up uncomfortably close and shouts.

"Looking for my emergency manual!"She then looks him up and down and says. "And why aren't you looking for yours, stupid!"

"No need, Come along, I've got the manual right here."He taps the side of his head, Asuka just sighs and follows him along, with Ayanami following silently behind.

And soon they came upon their first hurdle, lo and behold a door.

"And how are we supposed to get past this?!"Was it just him or was Asuka shouting more than usual today? Probably just his imagination

"Like this"And with that he took a deep breath and began to manually move the door's rotating lock, slowly leading it open. Their advance continued into unlit hallways and soon, they were lost, a fact Asuka seemed very pleased to point out.

"Well, you've gone and gotten us lost third!"He sighed.

"We're not lost, simply not on the right path."Of course had anyone said that besides him he would have told them 'that's the exact definition of being lost, you massive dumb ass'.

"Silence... I can hear a man's voice."Rei stated, Shinji quickly sprung to attention to pick up the man's voice. Hyuga by the sounds of it

"AN ANGEL IS ATTACKING I REPORT AN ANGEL IS ATTACKING!"Shinji's eyes widened in conjunction with Asuka's.

"An angel?!"They both blurt out at the same second.

"Damn it...Okay, time to take the alternative path."Shinji says, Asuka looks furious

"You knew another path and didn't tell us all along?!"He jumped back at her sudden outburst of fury.

"Well, it's kind of...humiliating, to be honest."And a few seconds later Asuka Agreed with Shinji on something for the first time in their lives.

"Hmp, this really is the worse!"Her statement was not left unanswered as Shinji quickly replied with an:

"I told you so."And so they continued walking or to be more precise crawling along in the ventilation system before finding their way onto the main path again. Once they arrived at a crossroads Asuka was quick to declare their way forward.

"To the right!"Ayanami raises a finger in protest.

"The correct way is left..."

"Well, what do you say Shinji-Kun. Who's right?"He had a feeling that this question had a lot more meaning than 'left or right' but seeing as one, he knew the correct way and two, the stake of the human race was at stake he quickly responded.

"Left."He answered to which she scoffed.

"Well both of you idiots are wrong anyway!"And as such, she stormed off to the right. _wait doesn't that lead to a-_

"ASUKA!WAIT UP!"He went unheard as she proceeded to rush to open the door, only to be met with the angel. Both he and Ayanami looked at her with a deadpan expression.

"W-well, we've confirmed Visual contact with the Angel, now we need to hurry to find the Evangelions!"

Soon they found themselves at another crossroads, this time Ayanami lead the way.

"...Your a favored smart ass who thinks she's better because she's treated differently than us!"Asuka and Ayanami were having a fight(Or Asuka was insulting Ayanami while she ignored the redhead)He sighed, now was not really the place for them to do this.

"You always have that smug look on your face"Ayanami ignored her and this angered Asuka who stormed up to the blue-haired girl "Do you think you can act superior just because you're treated better is that it?!"Ayanami was about to respond but Shinji was done.

"Stop it!"They both look at him with shock, well Asuka did, Rei had her usual expression"Save this for when the fate of the world isn't at stake damn it!"

Soon, they found themselves before a locked door, one of the big ones.

"Fuck..we're going around."He said Asuka stooped him as he tried to advance.

"What do you think you're doing ordering us around like that?!"He didn't have time for this, he had time for very few things and most certainly not this.

"Look, I don't give a crap about who the hell you think is 'leading' us if you know what you're doing then just lead us damn it!"She look offended at him for a second before grabbing him by the wrist and leading him ahead. Moving through the ducts proved to be another problem.

"Don't look forward, pervert!"He couldn't really follow this request mostly because he needed to look forward to move. "What did I just tell you, pervert, idiot, jerk!"Vents aren't meant to take the stress of a 14-year-old girl trying to beat the ever living hell out of a 14-year-old Boy and soon those they stood on collapsed.

As soon as he got up he headed to Ritsuko. "Evas how are they, report."

"They are ready and on standby for you."His eyebrow raised and soon she caught on to his confusion. "They were prepared manually, your father's idea." As Shinji looked up he saw his father along with a few other NERV personnel pull the entry plug open. "Seems like he knew you would come."

"Got it, I won't disappoint you, thank you, THANK YOU, FATHER!"The man in question looked at him and smiled as he began to prepare to activate his unit. And soon, everything was in place.

"Unit 01, reporting as ok for combat..wait no one outside the Evas can even hear me...right."He sighed at his own stupidity before continuing on, the 3 units soon beginning their movement through the shafts.

"Oiii, I look so pathetic."Shinji sighed and moved on, ignoring Asuka's comment

Soon they found themselves in the Vertical shaft, and then began the rain of acid, in an attempt to dodge the angel's attack Unit-02 slipped causing it to fall on Unit-00 which caused it to in turn fall into unit-01. Thankfully for the lot of them, Shinji was quick to react, projecting an AT field in which they could stand on, temporarily at least.

"It appears that the Target is trying to invade NERV using a liquid Solvent.."Shinji nearly responded with an 'oh, no shit Sherlock' but he felt that would be an inappropriate response for the person in question.

"The question is how we are going to beat it. Our packs have 3 more minutes of power and our rifles went down when you 2 ungracefully fell on me."Shinji said rather gloomily, soon however he heard words that gave him a spark of hope.

"I have a plan."Shinji snapped to attention at the Redhead's words, this better be a good one. "One of us neutralizes the Angel's AT field and protects the other from the Acid while they attack it, the last unit will go and retrieve the rifle and hand them to offense!"

"I see, I shall take the defense."Ayanami was quick to say, but Shinji decided to butt in immediately after.

"What, Hardly, I have the best AT Field manipulation."

"Sorry, but it won't be either of you."Shinji's eyes widen, she couldn't possibly mean? "It'll be me"

"No, its too dangerous, like I said I have the best AT field manip-" she interrupted him.

"I've got this Shinji-kun and besides I still have to pay you back for last time." _What last tim-Oh, that._

"Going out to lunch with me would suffice you know, putting your life on the line isn't necessary to pay me back!"She seemed to ignore him but a slight reddening of her cheeks could be seen.

"Shinji, your offense, Wonder girl you are picking up the rifle and giving it to Shinji." Rei nodded.

"Understood."Asuka cuts the feed to Unit-00.

"Oh and Shinji-Kun, I'll take you up on that lunch offer,n-not that it means anything, Baka!"He looked at her directly through the feed.

"Got it"And with this she jumped up, taking the brunt of the acidic attacks of the angel, and while she pretended not to feel anything, Shinji could see the clenching of her teeth that indicated her pain quite clearly to him.

"Asuka! Ayanami hurry up!"Soon the rifle is in his hands. "Out of the way!"

With this Asuka dives out of the way, allowing Shinji to load the Angel with as many bullets as the magazine could fit before throwing the rifle aside to catch the falling unit-02.

"Now we're even Baka-Shinji"He smiled at her through the feed.

"Yeah, even."

* * *

"Without artificial light...the sky looks so much more beautiful," Shinji says, eyes glued to the sky.

"But without light, it feels like there are no humans here."Shinji turns his vision to the city below as the lights come to life "See, much better."He smiles.

"Aye, the city lights also have their own beauty I'll admit."

"Mankind has always feared darkness, so it scrapes at its edges with fire. Man creates life by diminishing the darkness."Rei said,Asuka continued looking up as did Shinji.

"That's what makes mankind special, we fear the unknown so we shed light on it, I suppose that must be why the angels attack us."And in part, it was.

"What are you, stupid? Who knows what they think"Shinji extended his hand toward the sky.

"Yeah...who knows?"


	12. Chapter 12-Affection

**AN:Oh Boy,this is a big one,here goes chapter 12- _Affection_**

* * *

Shinji sighed, eyes lazily scanning the classroom for anything of interesting, class had ended some 15 minutes ago,he had stayed because both Asuka and Rei had, Asuka because she was speaking to Horaki and Rei because..well he had no idea why Rei had stayed over but he had no interest in trying to decipher what went on in that girl's head, she was far too complicated.

His life in General was far too complicated,between NERV and SEELE's Secret war that they both pretended was totally not happening,the Angels seeming to choose the worse possible moments to attack and a saboteur at NERV he found that he really maybe,possibly,probably,most definitely should not have decided to become a major player in this Secret world's plans...Okay,he hadn't really _decided_ it as much as rolled with his father's decision but still,he could have opted out at any moment.

And then, there was Asuka, before she arrived Shinji could at least say he wasn't having issues with his love life, one cannot have issues with what doesn't exist after all. But now...he sighs, she made him feel _weird_ in a good way of course but still in a way that distracted him far too much from his main obligation...which was what again? Fighting the angels, stooping SEELE, stooping his father from carrying out with any of his original plans, making sure people didn't die under his watch, all of the above?

If he really was honest with himself, all of the above was the only answer he was happy with, not that it was easy, far from it actually, he was running on determination, Red bull, sweat, tears, and Guilt. Perhaps it would be wise to point out that _none_ of those were what a human being was supposed to run on like say, food. And again, now that he thought about it, when was the last time he ate? Lunch of course but he'd barely touched his plate, busy thinking of things like this, if his Old doctor ever found out Shinji had no doubts the man would fly to Tokyo-3, break into Misato's house and shove food down his throat. The mental image made him laugh a little.

Anyway,Asuka,yes the reason he'd gone on this whole internal monologue in the first place,she was possibly the biggest shock to his world view he'd faced...ever?Five to six months ago he would have laughed at the idea of ever falling in.. _something_ (Because it most definitely,totally was not _love_ ) with someone like her,she was loud,annoying,constantly called him an idiot for no discernible reason and seemed to enjoy making him her punching bag every so often,so of course he couldn't ever have imagined a few months back that he would _like_ her,but that wasn't why he felt that way,he felt that way because he saw what was underneath,he saw an adventurous soul,someone who was genuinely proud of her accomplishments,someone who told the world how great she was and unlike him,did it with full sincerity and without a single hint of sarcasm,someone who didn't back down from a challenge simply because it got tough but there was something else,something that also drew him toward her,something he'd seen for the first time in that cold and lonely night before the battle with Isfrael,she was Human,she missed her mother,she had nightmares,she feared and she felt and she,she,she,she and that,that was the only thing he could think of since the Matariel battle,her,Asuka Langley Sohryu,she'd agreed to go on a date...a date request he'd made as a _joke,_ Lunch if he remembered the day's events clearly,which he didn't need to,the Eva's secondary cameras were always on and he'd re-watched the footage some fifty times,there was no room for misunderstanding there.

"Ugh.."He sounded pathetic,his face now laying in his desk.

"What's going on third?You Look miserable, I mean more so than usual."He looked up,of course, it was her, who else would it be,someone who didn't make him feel crazy?And why did she have to look so beautiful even when she was condescending?And why was he making so many questions to himself today?And why were most of those rhetorical?

"Nothing...just thinking."She raises an eyebrow.

"You do that now?"When hadn't he done that lately?Mostly about her,he couldn't remember,the last time he'd relaxed his mind was nearly 2 months back after the Volcano,Misato had been a real pain in the ass about him not following orders.

"Ohhhh, believe me, I do a lot more of that then I really should."

"hmm...Hikari has this stupid beach hang out thing planned and for some reason she wants you to go."Asuka was weird when it came to Horaki-san,mostly because she was always so nice to her,not to say she didn't call her an idiot every so often,but she did it so rarely it was not even worth mentioning,he'd believe they were secret lovers if Horaki-san didn't have the biggest Crush on Touji.

"Sure, I'll go,what about you?"He'd said something wrong because she was looking at him with a rather irate expression.

"Shinji...if I came to ask you to go then I'm clearly going too, idiot!"He raises his arms in defeat.

"Got it, got it,of course I'll go, wouldn't want to disappoint our Class President."She makes a weird face,he tilts his head. "What is it?"

"Do you always bend over to fulfill other people's requests like a good little dog?"The fact that was spoken as a question rather than an insult nearly made Shinji laugh.

"Not really,I'm actually kinda bad at following orders..."He remembered a certain time at a volcano,the thought that if he'd followed through with orders she'd be dead still made him shudder. "...but Horaki-san's a friend and a beach sounds nice so I'll accept."He smiled at her,she scoffed and turned away thought he could see a smile forming itself in her face,he wished she smiled more like this,she always seemed so angry with everything,with life,if only she smiled more often.

"Whatever...its on Saturday be ready to leave by 9:00"He nodded,the hours were anything but an issue,used as he was to 2 or 3 hours of sleep every day,a habit that he really,really had to break Akagi had told him,he found that hypocritical coming from her.

* * *

"Hey,Shinji,where's Asuka?"Misato asked him,Shinji himself didn't have much of an idea, Asuka had said something about going to Horaki's house but he really didn't know what for.

"At a friend's house"Misato made an 'oooh' sound and now seemed really interested.

"She has friends? Tell me about them any boys,does she have a boyfriend yet?"Shinji Laughed at his Guardian's over-eagerness to learn more about Asuka's social life,Misato was really sweet when she wanted to be,even if her work took most of her energy away she still tried to be in on their lives as much as possible.

"Yes she does have friends,not many of them..."He wouldn't call those people that followed her around because of her status and beauty her friends anymore then he would call members of his fan club his, yes _fan club_ that was _somehow_ something that existed for him, they even sold unlicensed figurines, he might have bought a few of them. "not any male ones,thought a few admirers."He might or might not have had to bribe the school to not expel him after he punched one of them for creeping on her. "And no Boyfriend, as far as I know."Thankfully or perhaps _not_ depending on his point of view Asuka seemed against any sort of amorous relationship with anyone who wasn't Kaji, who himself was against a relationship with a girl half his age for obvious reasons.

"Ohhh...admirers, are you among them Shinji-kun?"She had meant to tease him, but he,he was an honest man when it suited him and seeing Misato's face would probably be priceless.

"Yup,if you tell her that I'll rip your eyes from you skull thought." Misato gasped if it was because of his very much serious threat or because of his sudden declaration of his.. _admiration_ for Asuka he didn't know,

"Y-your kidding me right?!"He laughed at the sheer shock in her face,now he just had to make sure Misato _actually_ feared for her life if she ever told Asuka.

"But seriously, don't tell her, I'll _actually_ hurt you" She pouted much like a child, which meant that she would have run off and told Asuka had he not told her to not do so, typical Misato.

"Fine, spoilsport!"He rolled his eyes at her infantile behavior and continued to cook dinner for the household, he didn't mind cooking before this but after being forced to do it for Misato for six or so months he was starting to actually enjoy it and as a bonus, he was getting really good at it. He idly wondered if Asuka would stay the Night at Horaki's and then promptly mentally slapped himself. _Bad Shinji, stop thinking about her for 10 minutes_. It need not be said that he failed rather badly at that.

* * *

It was Friday now,school was once more over and again Shinji found himself thinking,this time not about Asuka but Rei,lately he felt like she was...lonelier than usual,always so focused on her books,she had stooped talking to him,he wanted to know why,the question was in how he should approach her about it,being blunt could and most certainly would give her the wrong impression and asking her what's wrong would have her give him a noncommittal answer like 'nothing Pilot Ikari',and he also hated the fact she called him Pilot Ikari most of the time,Shinji,he was Shinji,even Shinji-Kun would be better than 'Pilot Ikari'.He wondered if she would go to the beach on Saturday...no, of course, she wouldn't, maybe he should invite her? But then again it was Hokari's thing so maybe she wouldn't like that. She'd already left, he takes out his phone.

'Hey Hokari-san, would u mind if I invite Rei to the beach?.' He waited for a few minutes before his phone vibrated.' Already did Shinji-Kun, she said didn't want 2.'

Shinji smiles, that meant that if he managed to convince Rei to go Hokari wouldn't disapprove, operation 0 is go...yes he wasn't very creative with names.

"Hey, Rei, what are you doing, "Shinji asks mostly to start Conversation, he _did_ have eyes to see rather clearly that she was reading a book..on calculus,who reads calculus books in their free time?Rei Ayanami by the looks of it, and sometimes Shinji Ikari.

"I Am reading a book,Pilot Ikari"Her eyes leave said object for a moment as she speaks to him before moving back,she really wasn't making it easy was she?then again he supposed she never did.

"So,did you hear about the class hang out at the beach Hokari-san has been planning?"He wasn't exactly being subtle but Shinji Ikari was anything but subtle,that sometimes worked to his detriment,not here though.

"I have Indeed pilot Ikari."Her eyes don't leave the book this time,that meant she was annoyed, the fact such an unnoticeable little action was the only thing that displayed her feelings made her really hard to read, but he was used to her ticks and as such he could communicate to her,better than everyone else besides his father at least.

"So...why don't you want to go?"Blunt worked right?...wait,had he not said just a few minutes ago that being blunt wouldn't work...well it was working for now so...keeping it going should be fine.

"I..do not know pilot Ikari."That 'pilot Ikari' thing of hers was getting to his nerves,nerves,NERV,god damn it that word really was ruined for him.

"Look, I get your whole..isolation thing, I really do considering your circumstances but...you don't _have_ to be isolated you know."Her eyes go up to meet his again.

"I do not believe you know my circumstances as well as you think Pilot Ikari."He bit his lower lip,he really shouldn't tell her...should he? if he really thought about it the only person she would ever tell was and his father, both of which knew about his father's endgame. Screw it, she wasn't gonna tell anyone anyways and if he asked her not to she was doubly not going to tell anyone.

"Hey Rei...can we meet somewhere else I need to talk to you privately" She seemed confused, as confused as Rei Ayanami could be but nodded anyway.

* * *

Shinji had decided that the Slum-like part of town that Rei somehow called home would be secretive enough to speak to her if anyone overheard him they'd think he was a druggie or something.

"Well Rei...i know everything"She tilted her head with a confused look, Shinji Mentally slapped himself, of course, such a cryptic nondescript sentence would confuse her, it confused _him_ for god's sake. "Ah.. I mean..about the Angels, Lilith, you, My mother, Father's plans everything, everything."

Rei's eyes widen, actually widen, this was the most expressive he'd ever seen her, she steps back. "Oh...i suppose that means our...friendship must over, I apologize for ever attempting to get close to you Pilot Ikari."Wait, what?! Where did that come fro-...oh, he'd made it sound like he'd _just_ found out not known it for years.

"Wait!"She halted her slow march backward. "I've known...for a while before I even meet you"

"Before...why would you choose to approach me then...pilot Ikari?"Had his father not told her of their decision? Of course, he wouldn't..he was too much of an idiot to do feelings stuff wasn't he.. I _swear father, you're a pain sometimes._

"Rei...you...your human."She opens her mouth to protest, he doesn't allow her to. "Nuh Nah Nah Nah! No speaking, no, only listening now Rei, it doesn't matter what your DNA says or tests say or what anyone says, because their wrong what matters is this..." he points to where her heart is. "..and that, that I know is human. And..you can't be alone forever, because that plan you were born to do? Scrapped, you know that...so live, because you've got one hell of a chance, but your still young, and its not too late so...live, like _you_ want to."And after that Shinji expected a lot of things, for Rei to ignore him,nod meekly,run away but this...this he did not expect,he did not expect a _hug_ in the slightest. Even so he hugs her back.

"Thank you, pilot Ikari."Her voice was muffled against the fabric of his shirt but he could still feel the gratitude oozing off her voice.

"If you want to thank me call me Shinji or Shinji-Kun, hell considering our Genetic relation even Brother would be better then Pilot Ikari."He'd offered the last one as a joke, there was no way sh-

"Very well...brother."WHAT?!Was his Sarcasm broken? Last time Asuka had accepted his joking date request now Rei was accepting his joking request to call him brother, what was the world coming to? But if he said anything she could return to pilot Ikari, and then he'd have to tell her to not call him that again. That and he enjoyed hearing her call him brother. _I always did want to have a sister._

* * *

"Sup Father"His voice flowed through the phone and onto the other side of the line.

"You do realize I have much more to do than listen to you all day long, what is it?"Shinji Frowned, father was not in a good mood.

"So...i was thinking, can we adopt Rei?"Gendo Ikari blinks multiple times in the other end of the line.

"What? Has Captain Katsuragi been giving you her beverages again?"Shinji wondered how he even knew she'd given him any at some point, knowing his father the apartment was probably bugged.

"No..it's just I told her everything..."Gendo had been expecting that for a while, he was surprised it took the boy half a year to do it. "And since you basically act like her father and she calls me brother now...we could just legally adopt her, get her out of the slums she's living in."Gendo's interest peeked.

"What? I Gave her permission to leave nearly 2 years ago."Shinji sighs, his father didn't really understand Rei, did he?

"Permission father..not an order, she probably thought living like that was acceptable."Gendo sighs, he really shouldn't have to worry about his pilot's well being that was Katsuragi's Jo-

"Wait, would Captain Katsuragi be willing to take her in as well?"Shinji thought about it, willing? yes, capable? No, he was already being forced to share a room with Asuka and the alternative was a tiny and honestly, unacceptable room.

"Willing? Yeah, problem is that she's not really got the space."Gendo thought of the possibilities.

"Well.. I suppose a promotion for the captain is in order, with a higher salary she would be able to afford a much larger apartment."Shinji supposed that was good but then again...he did have an idea.

"What about the Ikari Manor?" Gendo Smiled nostalgically, he hadn't even remembered that old place existed.

"I Suppose it has enough space for the 4 of you...and if any pilots require housing in the future there wouldn't be a need to relocate to an even larger apartment..."Shinji Smiles, glad his father had agreed, to live in his childhood home again would be...interesting. "Very well, I accept, there's already an underground transportation system, connecting it to NERV's underground one in Tokyo-3 won't be an issue and it'll allow you to be outside of an Angel's attack path while still being able to deploy quickly. Yes, it'll be done. Goodbye Shinji."Gendo hanged up just as Shinji said goodbye, he couldn't help but be proud in the boy, finding such unorthodox solutions to problems was one of his main qualities,and the one he took the most from his mother...No, he wouldn't allow his mind to linger with Yui for too long, that only brought him grief.

* * *

 **AN: NOTE,THIS FANFIC HAS BEEN DISCONTINUED AND REDONE UNDER THE LABAL OF LESS OF A BASTARD REDUX,IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE CONCLUSION TO THIS STORY PLEASE GO OVER AND CHECK IT OUT.**


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